Town of Aberdeen to implement bonuses for full-time workers

Police Lieutenants honored in front of board

ABERDEEN – The Town of Aberdeen Board met Monday, March 28 with police department honors and multiple budget reallocations on the agenda.

Newly promoted Police Lieutenant Christina Ricks was sworn in in front of the board, taking the oath of office and she was also presented an Award of Completion for her completion of the Law Enforcement Executive Program, which aims to build proactive leadership for law enforcement executives.

“Lieutenant Ricks accepted the job with the town in 2008 and in 2011 she was promoted to a Master Patrol Officer and in 2014 she was promoted to Sergeant,” said Police Captain Brian Chavis. “She is currently attending Richmond Community College to earn her degree in business. Tonight she will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant.”

Police Lieutenant Jesse Smith was then awarded two Life Saving Heroics Awards for his effort in going above and beyond his duties in two separate incidents, one on Feb. 24, 2022 involving a driver who had ran off the road late at night and needed to be medically evacuated and the other on March 10, 2022 involving two passengers stuck in a burning car.

“It was very clear that if Lieutenant Smith had not arrived on scene and did what he did, these people would not be alive today,” Captain Chavis said. “Lieutenant Smith went above and beyond, but we expect that from him. That’s just the person that he is.”

The town board then approved two budget reallocations, one for $116,000 from the Powell Bill Streets Resurfacing line item to the Colonial Heights Park Paving Project and the other for $69,960 from the Water Production Capital Outlay line for the purchase of 264 AMI Water Meters.

Finally, in an effort to improve the retention of town workers, the board approved the implementation of $2,000 retention bonuses for all full-time staff members.

The bonus money will be paid to employees up front, but would have to be paid back to the state if an employee elected to leave before a set amount of time.

“I think we’ve all seen the turnover rate, not only in our town, but in other towns,” said Town Manager Paul Sabiston. “We’re actually doing okay, but still not great. We’re somewhere in the 9-16.5% turnover rate. Sometimes we’re pushing 25-35%. The idea is to give a good incentive for employees to stay who are working now.”