Police contract, snow removal efforts, highlight first 2026 City Council meeting

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

A new, three-year contract with city police and digging out from a major snowstorm dominated Lebanon City Council’s agenda on Thursday, Jan. 29.

The initial meeting of 2026, moved from Monday, Jan. 26 due to the snowstorm, was also the first for newly elected council member Cornell Wilson.

New police contract will run through 2029

Council ratified a four-year contract with its police officers, who are represented by the Lebanon Police Bargaining Association, an agent of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 42.

The labor agreement, which started on Jan. 1 and runs through 2029, provides for a base salary increase of 4% per year for current officers with six or more years on the force. Newly hired officers will start at $57,000 per year while in the police academy and see an increase to $66,000 in their first year of duty. Officers in their first through fifth years of service will receive step increases and earn $89,319 by their fifth year.

Mayor Sherry Capello told council that “in order to be more competitive with surrounding departments, the city had to increase the police officer’s salaries.”

The new contract also covers health insurance for officers and their families, and increases deductibles, employee premium shares, spousal penalties, and prescription co-pays.

The package also provides for 12-hour shifts and up to three mandatory eight-hour training sessions per year. Capello noted that the city “had initially executed a side agreement that was a pilot program to make sure that the city was good with having a 12-hour shift, and that the officers were good as well. It has been very positive, a morale booster, and we also think it helps with recruitment and retention.”

Snow removal update

Capello briefed council on snow removal efforts following a major snowstorm that started on Sunday, Jan. 25.

Some early forecasts called for more than two feet of snow, so “public works spent the week prior ensuring that all equipment and vehicles were inspected and operational, fuel supplies were topped off, salt shed was fully stocked, sodium hydrochloride was adequately stocked to improve salt effectiveness during extreme cold temps,” the mayor said.

“We had a winter event planning meeting on Jan. 20 with public works, police, and fire. We declared a snow emergency effective 6 p.m. Sunday evening. The police department did an excellent job enforcing the emergency declaration by making multiple announcements in both English and Spanish and ensuring vehicles were removed from posted routes so the public works crew could do their job.”

Nevertheless, Capello reported that “134 citations were issued, 56 vehicles were towed initially to allow for plowing and salting of the snow emergency routes. An additional 20 or so vehicles were later towed to keep the routes clear for snow removal operations.”

In addition to plowing streets open in the immediate aftermath of the storm, the city continues to conduct snow removal operations to clear snow emergency routes from curb-to-curb. Capello said that, beginning this past Tuesday, “we had approximately 22 tri-axle trucks and a snow blower operating in 12-hour shifts to remove snow from snow emergency routes.”

“We know parking is at a premium, so as each street was cleared, I posted on Facebook that residents were permitted to return and park on that particular street.”

The mayor added that “in total, 361 dump loads, approximately 5,415 tons of snow, were removed from these routes.” And, on Thursday, Jan. 29 alone, “an additional 53 loads, totaling approximately 318 tons, were removed from narrow streets. That’s a total of 5,733 tons removed from the streets so far.

“So given the volume of snow received, greater than what was experienced by many surrounding communities, I believe our crews performed diligently and professionally. Despite long hours and challenging conditions, morale has remained positive.”

The snow is being dumped at Stoever’s Dam, according to the mayor.

Board appointments

Much of the city’s routine but necessary work is handled behind the scenes by boards consisting of city residents who serve without pay. On Thursday, Capello told council she has made several appointments and reappointments, effective Jan. 2.

Martin Yocum has been reappointed to the City of Lebanon Authority for another five-year term. The authority oversees the city’s water and sewer systems.

Yocum, Gregory Hower, and career firefighters Brian Otto and Allen Firestine have been reappointed to Paid Firemens’ Pension Fund Board for four-year terms. While the city’s firefighters are primarily volunteers serving with individual fire companies, it employs 21 career firefighters who handle the day-to-day operations of the fire department.

Jane Yocum, Terrence Feeman, Gregory Lee, Police Chief Eric Sims, Sgt. Ryan Mong, and patrolman Travis Pidcock have been reappointed to the city’s Police Pension Fund Board for four-year terms.

Jeffrey Yocum, Fire Chief A.J. Sweitzer, and Cheryl Feeman have been reappointed to the city’s Board of Health.and city code enforcement supervisor Glenn Yanos has been appointed as a new member to the city’s Board of Health for four-year terms.

Next Lebanon City Council meetings

City Council’s next pre-council planning meeting will be on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 4:45 p.m. The next regular monthly council meeting will be on Monday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

All meetings are open to the public and will be held in the City Hall multi-purpose room, 735 Cumberland St., first floor, Lebanon. Meetings are streamed live on YouTube here.