The Shepherdstown chief of police vacancy and hiring an additional police officer were the main topics of discussion at the Police Committee meeting Tuesday at Town Hall, 104 N. King St.

As of Feb. 17, the last day to turn in a job application for the chief post, the committee had received 10 applications.

“We don’t want to rush this,” said Mayor Jim Auxer, noting the next step is to review the applications according to the criteria laid out in the job description. The Police Committee will then select those candidates to be interviewed.

The job has been advertised at a salary of $40,000 to $54,000 with benefits.

Former chief Terry Bellomy left the post in January, after a year on the job, for other law enforcement employment.

The plan is to have the applications completely reviewed by the end of February. The committee could then be able to make a recommendation at the next Town Council meeting in March.

Next on the agenda was the hiring of an additional full-time police officer.

New part-time officer, Michael Dodson, is currently employed with the Police Department. According officer Tim Johnson, who is running the department, having a part-time officer is “working out good – we just needed someone to pick up the slack.”

The committee plans to begin advertising for the patrolman position to obtain interested candidates. After making a roster of candidates, the committee will conduct the necessary interviews.

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Residents and visitors of Shepherdstown can expect to give up a nice chunk of change if they violate parking regulations. The new parking tickets don a revised list of fines for certain violations.

The fine for parking in a residential zone has increased from $25 to $40. If a dual violation occurs, in a yellow zone and near a fire hydrant, the fine will be $50, up from $40. The fine for illegally parking in a handicap spot is now $200 instead of $100.

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The Police Committee also discussed the creation of a “Pooper Scooper” ordinance.

Auxer believes the problem of dog owners not cleaning up after their dogs’ business “has gotten out of hand.”

Dog owners are allowing their dogs to defecate on residential property and simply leaving it for the property owner to clean up.

The committee has decided to begin constructing an ordinance that deals specifically with the “poop” problem. In order to create the most complete and effective ordinance, the committee will look over ordinances from towns such as Hagerstown and Martinsburg.