Two agreements between Jeannette and its police union are aimed at filling three open full-time positions in the department and alleviating rising overtime costs.
Council approved the measures that will increase pay for new hires in 2026 and allow the police chief to collect overtime pay. So far this year, the city has spent about 70% of its overtime budget, which is offset by fewer dollars going towards officers’ base pay because of the lack of manpower.
Mayor Michelle Langdon, who oversees the department, said the agreements were needed to remedy the situation.
“I do believe that these changes in policy will really help and it will be reflected at the end of the year,” she said.
Sgt. Bryan DeFelice, president of the Jeannette Police Officers’ Benefit Association, praised Langdon’s leadership.
“It’s refreshing to have a mayor who understands the importance of addressing problems head-on, rather than shifting blame,” he said.
Jeannette police have had struggles since at least 2024 filling open positions on the force. An arbitration decision last year reduced wages for new officers, putting Jeannette among the lowest starting salaries at Westmoreland County police departments.
In light of the arbitration decision, police Chief Derek Manley asked council to consider upping wages for new hires. Under the agreement approved last week with the Jeannette Police Officers’ Benefit Association, new officers hired in 2026 will have a base salary of $68,979, said manager Ethan Keedy. They would get 2% raises for 2027 and 2028 instead of 3%.
Manley said Wednesday the change makes the department’s pay more competitive with surrounding agencies.
“This will hopefully attract officers from around the area,” he said.
The arbitration decision called for new officers in 2025 to start at $52,000 with $65,000 being the maximum amount any new hire could make, based on experience.
“Hopefully, this is a way we can incentivize officers to come here and apply here,” Keedy said.
The starting wage increase is an example of progress, something DeFelice said likely wouldn’t have happened under the previous administration.
“Recognizing when something isn’t working and taking steps to fix it is a move in the right direction,” he said.
The department currently is accepting applications for civil service testing which are due May 1. Manley said Wednesday morning that eight applications have been picked up by potential candidates but none had been turned in.
Under the second agreement, the police chief will be paid for working overtime.
Manley previously was permitted to work extra patrol shifts under the collective bargaining agreement. But as a managerial and salaried position, he said he had to take compensatory time instead of additional pay. That made it difficult, he said, to run the department.
“Due to the ongoing staffing issue, I was accumulating compensatory time quicker covering patrol shifts than I could use it, while still needing to run the department on an administrative level,” Manley said. “In addition, the overtime payment provides more of an incentive to work a patrol shift while at the same time allowing me to choose to accumulate compensatory time or take the monetary pay for a shift I would end up working.”
DeFelice criticized the end of a past practice that he said allowed the chief to take overtime, calling the handling of daily department operations at city hall “a lot of smoke and mirrors.”
“Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to have a chief who is willing to step up and support his officers,” DeFelice said. “That kind of leadership on the ground matters just as much.”
The city’s police overtime budget for 2026 is $60,000. As of March 31, about $41,000 had been spent, according to financial information obtained by TribLive.
“We can’t go on like that all year, which is why we chose to do this,” Keedy said.
In 2025, $40,000 was budgeted for overtime and it ended up costing $110,000. There wasn’t a major impact on the department’s budget though, as there was less money spent on wages because there were fewer officers overall, he said. Annual overtime costs are typically between $40,000 and $60,000 with a full complement of 12 officers.
City officials are looking at other options to entice and incentivize candidates to apply to the Jeannette force without impacting the budget in future years, Keedy said.
The arbitration decision last year came after unsuccessful negotiations between city officials and the union. The previous pact expired at the end of 2024.
The award was retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025, and it would be in effect until Dec. 31, 2028. DeFelice said the union has not signed it because both sides have concerns.