stuart-police-department-public-forum-6-18-25

The Stuart Police Department held an open forum Wednesday evening.

Police Chief Dave Reha explained that they were holding the forum to share information with the community that he had taken to the Stuart City Council in the June 9th Council meeting, to allow them to see that information, see the numbers, and be able to make their own opinions on the topic. There were nearly 60 people that attended, including two current City Council members, the mayor, a previous City Council member and the Adair County Attorney, and Guthrie County Attorney and Assistant Attorney. The information included that their current equipment is lacking and outdated, with computers that are six to seven years old, when they normally had a five year lifespan, along with having nonfunctional security cameras within their station, and desktop computers that are nearly 18 years old.

Reha also mentioned that after doing a comparison with other departments that were similar to their community, Stuart had the lowest starting salary, the lowest budget per capita, and were the only department that had no overtime, and effectively no vacation time. The forum was also used as a chance to answer any questions that the public had for the police department, including on some rumors that had been being spread. Some of those were that the department has all the equipment they need, that the department needs to stay within their budget, and that the officers are wanting $20,000 pay increases to their salaries, which would mean the pool would have to close.

Reha said two of the department’s vehicles are running on six years old, when law enforcement vehicles usually have a service lifespan of three years, and that all of the officers share one portable breathalyzer testing device. Reha then dispelled the comment about staying within their budget, as he gave a breakdown of the budget he was given for the current fiscal year, which was $315,229, and shared that after taking all the necessary costs out, he was left with only $4,729 for other expenses throughout the rest of the year, including coverage of cell phones and internet, office supplies, training and enforcement and many more things.

Reha then said that the final rumor of the department wanting $20,000 pay increases, and that to do so would mean closing the pool, was flat out wrong. He explained that neither he nor his officers had said anything of the sort, going so far to say that he didn’t want to take anything from any of the other city departments, but would love to see them receive increased budgets as well. Reha mentioned that all he had asked for was to get the School Resource Officer contract approved, that they consider hiring a fifth officer, and that after that they then begin holding discussions to create long term plans so that they could properly budget in the future. A document with the information shared with the City Council in their June 9th meeting can be found at this link.

On Thursday night, a Stuart City Council Special meeting was held, where the COuncil approved a full time fifth officer position, and to bump up the starting pay so that Chief Reha could go for the most money with the application for the COPS Grant.