Special election raises issues of PSO

In the wake of council member Rob Green's resignation to serve as the mayor of Cedar Falls, the Cedar Falls City Council voted to have Nick Taiber fill the vacated seat. Cedar Falls residents petitioned to fill the at-large seat by special election; the petition was approved and the election will take place on March 24. Those on the ballot include Kelly Dunn, T.J. Frein, Fred Perrymann, Penny Popp, and LeaAnn Saul, but not Taiber. Taiber decided not to run due to controversy about potential implementation of a public safety officer (PSO) program. The PSO program, implemented in 2015, is a paid on-call proram to cross-train staff to assist police and fire safety efforts. Members of the community have argued against or in favor of the program based upon their views of its safety training. Taiber had led the council's decision to eliminate firefighter positions and replace them with PSOs; photo.