The New Hampton Police Department comes out of the holiday weekend down one police officer.
In early May, officer-in-training, Nick Sylvester, submitted his resignation, with his last day on Friday, May 26th. Sylvester and Austin Hageman joined the NHPD last December, ending a six-month period of the NHPD being short-handed, down two officers for much of that stretch.
Both were going through police academy certification training when Sylvester’s resignation was accepted by the New Hampton City Council. Mayor Bobby Schwickerath said Sylvester will have to pay the City back for his academy training.
Sylvester’s resignation came less than a month after Tim Pederson took over as the new police chief, replacing former chief Zach Nosbisch, who left the NHPD to become Chief Deputy with the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Office.
During the hiring process that brought Sylvester and Hageman on board with the NHPD, the City learned it needed to up its police officer pay, with the City’s officers making, on average, $2 to $3 less per hour than neighboring departments. Last month, the City entered into a “memo of understanding” with the employees union that will increase pay in the department on July 1st.
