Newton Falls council is working to bring back its police department, which had been inactive for more than a year when a levy required to keep it running failed in the fall of 2022.

The village council has rehired Gene Fixler, who was the city's former police chief, to determine the future of the Newton Falls Police Department.

"I'm excited to get this started," said Councilwoman-at-large Julie Stimpert. "I think this is a very minimal step to get to see what we can do to bring back our police department."

Fixler's first job will be to assess the department's inventory—including cars, weapons, and other equipment—to determine what finances are needed to bring it back.

"This is a fact-finding process right now," Fixler said. "Financials are still up in the air for what we'll be able to do."

Fixler told our Chris Cerenelli "if we can't afford it this year, I'm sure council will work on seeing what they can do to get some money for a police department."

Law director Jeff Limbian added "I think there are a number of issues that have to be dealt with, both in terms of the source of the funding, reallocating funding, rehiring part time and full time police officers, making sure the equipment still works properly."

While all of this is happening, the Trumbull County Sheriff's Department will still conduct patrols through the village and will do so for the time being.

In 2022, Fixler—who served in the role for nine years and worked as an officer in the village for nearly 50 years—was terminated as the village's police chief.

At the time, Fixler was charged with Dereliction of Duty, which stemmed from a traffic stop in 2020 where Fixler encountered a possibly impaired driver who was involved in a fatal crash 10 minutes after being let go by him and one other officer.

He later sued for wrongful termination and won, as the village's council did not meet a threshold to fire him in an official capacity in 2023. The charges of dereliction of duty were also dismissed without prejudice last year.

Despite this tension between Fixler and the village's former administration, sitting members of the council are happy about his return.

"I suggested this seven months ago," said Councilman Brian Axiotis. "I don't know why it's taking this long to get to this point. I wish it had been done a lot faster. It's a shame that the wheels turned very slowly on this."

His new contract with the village, which the council unanimously approved on Aug. 7, expires on Nov. 30.

"Now with this new...very responsible and caring city council, mayor and city manager, they know what their residents want," Fixler said Thursday.

21 News is working to learn more about the contract and how much Fixler will be paid for his work.

A Police Services Ad-Hoc Committee has been working on bringing the department back for sometime. 

One of its solutions was bringing back a bare-boned, part-time department at a starting cost of about $400k. Starting the department back part-time could be a "good way to avoid paying benefits," according to the committee. 

Budget reports show the village spent $842,667.83 on its police department in 2022. Compare that to 2023's spending of $710,852.88, with a majority of those dollars going toward the sheriff's department.

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