By Jim Bloch
The city of Port Huron and St. Clair County Community College have entered an agreement to allow a Port Huron police officer to work as a resource officer on campus during the 2023-2024 academic year.
The officer will work to “support the educational process and maintenance of a safe learning environment for students, faculty, staff and the community,” according to the resolution adopted by the city council at its regular meeting Sept. 25. The officer will work eight hours per college day.
The agreement was backdated to July 1 and runs June 30, 2024.
The college will pick up the cost of the officer at $123,039 for the school year. Half the amount is due to the city by Dec. 30; the second half is due by June 30, 2024. The city will provide the officer’s car and fuel at its own cost.
“We adjusted the wages in this contract to account for our current collective bargaining agreement,” said City Manager James Freed, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on the city’s website. “Chief Platzer and myself met with leadership of SC4 a few months ago to talk about how it was going, what kind of scheduling changes we could do for sporting events and what-not. A very productive meeting.”
The officer “may work on other police related tasks while at St. Clair County Community College, such as follow-up and reports, time permitting,” according to the contract. “The Resource Officer must conduct him/herself in a professional manner and must maintain a high level of respect and integrity within the college community.”
The president of the college may make a request to the city manager for overtime, payable at a rate of time-and-a-half.
The officer “will conduct and coordinate police investigations of incidents involving St. Clair County Community College students and staff,” according to the contract. “The Officers’ primary responsibility is to St. Clair County Community College. Under emergency situations the College Resource Officer will also investigate other cases or perform other duties assigned by the Port Huron Police Chief or their designee.”
“Is it basically the same agreement (as last year’s)?” asked Mayor Pauline Repp.
“Pretty much, yeah,” said Freed.
This is the fourth year of city providing a resource officer to the college.
“Given the times we live in, I think it’s imperative that we maintain that support and what we’re doing over there safety-wise,” said council member Anita Ashford.
The council voted 6-0 to approve the agreement; council member Jeff Pemberton was absent.
“This is just a continuation of a very great partnership, keeping that campus secure and those students safe,” said Freed.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
