The Town of Grant suddenly finds itself in need of a new police chief.
Jordan Elliott, who’d been in the job about a year, has resigned as chief to go back to work for the Sheriff’s Department. He said financial reasons had prompted him to make the change. The Town Council had just passed a $2 an hour raise for Chief Elliott when he announced at the end of the meeting that he was resigning.
He said he would work this week and some night shifts next week as he works out his notice, but he expects to start with the sheriff’s office next week.
He said the Police Department is in better shape than when he found it. He’d hoped to take it to the top, but he said his long-term circumstances make it better for him to go back to work for the county. He cited the insurance cost as one factor. It’s cheaper with the county.
But he also expressed some frustrations with the circumstances in Grant.
“It’s hard to find officers to work,” he said.
He said the Council had bought him one new patrol car, but they could really use another one or maybe even two more.
“I work over 50 hours a week,” he said. “I could work 60. But you never see your kids and it takes a toll on your family.”
He said he lives in Guntersville, not Grant, so he can’t run by his house on lunch or supper breaks for a little family time.
“I’ve looked at moving to Grant,” he said. “But you know how crazy the housing market is. I got a really good interest rate on my house and rates have now gone up.”
He said the Grant police chief’s job the last several years has been a place where people come to finish the last 2 or 3 years of their careers. He feels it would be better to get someone who is not near retirement to lead the department.
He said he will always have a warm spot in his heart for Grant and he thanked Mayor Larry Walker and the Council for letting him learn and grow by holding the position.
“We really wish you could stay and keep helping our department grow,” Councilman Janice Jones-Bailey said.
Mayor Walker said he understands Chief Elliott’s concerns. He said the Council has done what it could to try to improve things for the department.
“The county can buy 15 cars a year,” he said. “We are doing good to buy one. We’ve increased the pay for our officers. I believe our starting pay is better than the starting pay in Scottsboro. We are doing what we can to compete.”
He thanked Chief Elliott for his service and wished him well.
Chief Elliott said he would in a sense be “starting over” by going back to the sheriff’s office.
“But I’m a good officer and I know I can climb the ladder again,” he said.
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