ENMU regents to consider campus officer pay

PORTALES — The Eastern New Mexico University Board of Regents will consider at its meeting today a resolution aimed at making hiring at the college’s police department more competitive.

Vice President of Business Affairs Scott Smart said ENMU’s current pay scale for officers is lower than other local agencies, and raising it will attract candidates that have certification to work in law enforcement.

The pay increase, if approved, would be less than 10 percent, Smart said.

“When we hire a police officer that’s not certified ... there’s a law enforcement academy, either in Santa Fe or Hobbs, and I believe it’s a 16-week course that we have to send these individuals to to get them certified. It’s very expensive. It’s about $15,000 for one person,” he said.

The training, combined with the cost of paying an existing employee overtime to cover the trainee, costs the university $15,000 to $20,000, according to Smart.

Also at today’s 1 p.m. meeting in the Regents Room of the ENMU Administration Building:

• Regents will review ENMU’s revised mission, vision and core values, which was vetted by faculty for the university’s new strategic plan, according to Jeff Elwell, chancellor of the ENMU system.

• A change to ENMU’s intercollegiate athletics drug testing policy will be considered.

• Regents will consider a compensation increase for full-time and benefits-eligible employees at ENMU’s Roswell campus.

• The board will decide if Elwell will receive a raise to his annual salary of $230,000.