BELLAIRE — Police Chief J.J. Watson told Bellaire Village Council on Thursday that two officers plan to leave the police department and expressed hope that a part-time officer could take on a full-time position.

Watson said there was an officer at the department who was going to resign from his full-time position earning $19 an hour and take another full-time position elsewhere after he was offered $21.50 an hour there. He did not accept the job because he had signed a memorandum of understanding that will keep him at the Bellaire Police Department until the end of November.

Another officer is planning to retire in January.

Part-time Officer Derek Peck completed four weeks of part-time training, so Watson wants to consider taking him on full time at some point if funding allows, because he anticipates the other two officers will be leaving.

The police department will also be having its first-ever “Cram the Cruiser” event, which is a toy drive, from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Nelson Field parking lot.

“We’ll put cruisers down there. People can bring their toys in, unwrapped gifts,” Watson said. “We want to stuff them in the cruiser, and then we’re going to compile the list with the Bellaire Elementary, Bellaire Middle School, of kids that are inside the village of Bellaire, and then we would distribute toys to those kids.”

Councilman Jerry Olack presided over the meeting rather than Mayor Edward Marling, who was not able to make it to the meeting. Olack is the president pro-tem, which means he serves as the mayor when the mayor is not present. Olack retained his vote at the beginning of the meeting, which means he was still able to vote on issues.

Olack discussed Halloween night in Bellaire and said council should officially set a date for it. As a result, trick-or-treating will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. on Oct. 31.

Councilwoman Janet Richardson discussed the personnel committee meeting on Sept. 26 that was set to interview Bellaire Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Tim Bell to possibly fill a full-time service foreman position in the village. Richardson said Bell wanted $28 an hour to start. Richardson said once she told him the village cannot afford that, Bell informed members of the committee he didn’t need further discussion and left the meeting.

After he left, members had a discussion about the position. Richardson said it was proposed to look at combining the village administrator position that’s open with the service foreman post.

“If we can take the funds budgeted for the service foreman with the funds budgeted for the village administrator, and put them together, we would have a decent amount of money to offer the position to,” she said.

Richardson said there will be a finance and personnel committee meeting at 1 p.m. Oct. 18 at the municipal building.

There will also be a water committee meeting at 8 a.m. Oct. 10 at the municipal building.

Richardson gave an update on the AMLER grant for the pickleball amphitheater. She said the grant application was submitted Sept. 26 seeking $1.45 million to fund the recreational and entertainment complex.

“We’re very excited and confident with this submission. It’s a very competitive market,” Richardson said. “There’s 20 million up for grabs and 157 million worth of folks that want some money.”

The village will find out sometime in December what the awards are going to be.

On Sept. 20, Richardson met with a Regional Income Tax Agency representative to be proactive and learn more about RITA and what it offers to see if that program was suitable for the village once tax auditor Janice Sable retires. Richardson said most municipalities switch to RITA because it saves money, reduces daily administration costs, updates residents to e-filing using an easy to follow software and increases tax collections.

“Janice told us that RITA would guarantee continued tax billing for the village, avoiding the risk of position turnover,” Richardson said. “It’s going to be very hard to find someone to take that position, learn it, and be here for any amount of time.”

Richardson said Sable also recommends the village maintain a part-time person in the tax office to help residents with difficulties they experience with the new system.

Councilman Mike Doyle read a letter from the Bellaire High School Alumni Association stating it is planning a celebration for the 100th anniversary of the school, asking to reserve UNion Square Park from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. July 5. The association has plans for entertainment, children’s activities and food for the community. Doyle said the goal is to make council aware of that and get dates secured for the park.

Council took a roll call vote on the matter with Councilwoman Elizabeth Dugmore, Doyle, Olack, Richardson, Councilman Bill Schmitt and Councilman Robert “Bubba” Kapral unanimously approving the date.

Council, including Doyle, Olack, Richardson, Schmitt, Kapral and Dugmore, then approved a motion to go into a closed-door session to discuss potential litigation.