During the public comment portion of the July 10 Price City Council meeting, Price City Police Department (PCPD) Captain Brandon Ratcliffe visited the council once more to speak.
At the previous meeting, the captain and many members of the PCPD had raised great concern to the council members in regard to the new fiscal budget. This time around, Capt. Ratcliffe informed the council that he had made the commitment to those he works with and for to continue to attend the meetings and bring issues to light.
Capt. Ratcliffe explained that he felt that maybe the council members were not being appropriately informed of certain issues that are transpiring and he wished for them to have the most accurate information possible.
From there, he said that the issue the last couple of weeks has been with sick time. He had been informed that an officer was unable to take sick time, though it was written that sick leave can be used to provide care for immediate family members when necessary, for the wellbeing of families.
The captain went on to state that this is not a Finance Director issue and they should not be getting contacted by said director to say that the sick leave is not available, especially when it is supported in the policy. Capt. Ratcliffe said that he would gladly take the heat, but the public needs to be aware, especially when it comes to what he believes to be clear biases against the police department by officials in the city.
The council asked the captain for more clarification on this particular issue, in which he said that he had a phone conversation with the city’s Finance Director, who wanted to know who was sick. When the captain stated that he believed it was something that fell in line with the policy, he also read it to her.
According to Capt. Ratcliffe, the Finance Director stated multiple times that “that is not how things are done,” and he counseled her to look at the policy herself. He was then told he would be receiving another phone call from someone within the city, but at the time of the meeting, he had heard nothing further.
The captain also acknowledged once again the fact the council had pledged to open the budget sometime after July. With this matter, Capt. Ratcliffe informed the council that he has an open door and is always available.