Council hires part-time police officer

By PHIL MONSON
Humboldt - The City of Humboldt added another officer to its police force after approval at the city council meeting Monday night, Jan. 20.
The council approved hiring Lonny Floen, effective Jan. 7, 2025. Floen lives in southern Iowa and has 20 years of experience and has known Humboldt’s new police chief, Jacob Miller, in recent years.
“Lonny works part-time for us. And now with four people working the normal shift, he’s trained up and doing a great job helping fill in for us,” Humboldt City Administrator Cole Bockelmann said.
The council approved a master service agreement with Lexipol for providing annual law enforcement policy manual services.
“Back in 2022, we approved an agreement with Daigle Law Group to draft a policy manual for the police department. This project has not been completed and DLG has not provided an updated quote to finish the policy manual,” Bockelmann said.
“The intent of DLG was to provide a policy manual that was precisely tailored to the specific needs of our department. However, that method requires a significant amount of staff time and is not feasible based on current priorities of the department,” Bockelmann said.
“Lexipol provides a streamlined policy manual that is used by most departments in Iowa that can be implemented shortly after approval,” Bockelmann said.
Cost for the first year of the Lexipol agreement is $5,822. Staff has already cancelled the training service used for DLG policy review and implementation, saving approximately $3,000.
Funding for the agreement will be provided by the department’s contract work line item. Despite the cost, because of attrition savings, the department’s entire budget will remain under budget.
“Chief Miller recommends going with Lexipol. It costs less and takes less staff time to review,” Bockelmann said.
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