The Stuart City Council met in special session Wednesday night.

The Council voted unanimously to reallocate $10,000 within the department’s budget to go towards extra pay for the Stuart Police Department. Chief David Reha says his department has lost multiple good officers to higher-paying law enforcement jobs over the past several years and a higher rate in pay helps attract and retain good employees.

Plus, the Council heard a presentation from Stuart Rescue Director Ron Ross on his department’s budget, which is in a perpetual financially dire state. Ross says he inherited the department with shaky finances two years ago and despite cutting line item costs while maintaining the same quality of service or better, they are still operating at a loss in serving the community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Mayor Dick Cook, Councilor Neal Crawford and several community members in attendance echoed the notion that Stuart Rescue has saved countless lives over the years and around-the-clock EMS service is a luxury that many in Stuart desire to maintain. Ross says their local response time for a 9-1-1 call is about six minutes. If his department ceases around-the-clock service, then the response time could jump to about 30 minutes for another area agency to respond. Police Officer Ryan Harding stated that if he were ever shot while on duty he would much rather pay taxes to allow for a six minute response time rather than a 30 minute response time and believes many community members value their safety and their family’s safety similarly. The Council voted unanimously to reallocate $66,000 from funds set aside for a new ambulance to allow Stuart Rescue to continually operate as they have been, noting that it is not a long-term fix. A newly-formed committee of city leaders will brainstorm long-term solutions for Stuart Rescue’s financial woes.

Additionally, awarding contracts for the EMS building project and downtown infrastructure project were both tabled and will be addressed at the Council’s regular meeting on April 11th.