"Our original plan was to hire 23 news police officers," said Mayor Don Plusquellic. "As our budget tightened, and layoffs became inevitable, we reapplied with a modified request that would allow us to bring back officers who had been notified of layoff."

According to Police Chief Craig Gilbride, the COPS grant could be given in any of three categories: to hire new police officers, to bring back already-laid off cops or to re supply with pay those on a layoff list. Akron’s federal fund award will go to pay 23 officers who have been notified of layoff, but who---to date---are still working.

The federal funding, $5.77 million, will maintain the 23 officers for three years. The grant also stipulates that the city maintain the officers’ pay for at least one year after that.

"I had promised the 96 officers notified of layoff that our net loss would be much lower due to other funding sources," said Plusquellic. "This is the first piece of good news on this front, and we continue to pursue other options. My hope is our police and firefighters will now do their part to reduce expenses and save jobs."

Plusquellic also announced that tentative agreements have now been reached with two more city unions, AFSCME (blue collar civil service and the CSPCA (white collar civil service). Along with the agreement previously reached with the nurses union, this leaves on the police and fire unions without an agreement.