At their recent meeting, the Stuart City Council approved a resolution giving extra pay to the police department.

City Administrator Ashraf Ashour explains the department is currently short one officer, so there’s $30,000 in unspent funds. Given the extra work the current officers are having to do to compensate for not having a full police force, they thought it would be appropriate to use those funds as extra pay. The Council agreed, and approved the extra pay request.

The department will continue to look for a new officer. They are not alone in their plight, however, as several other police forces in central Iowa are short of their desired number of officers.