MILTON TWP., Ohio (WKBN) — At Tuesday evening’s board of trustees meeting, Milton Township’s first responders departments saw some steps forward.

Milton Township’s Police Department was awarded a grant that it help them recruit officers.

The grant, which is through the state’s criminal justice system, is worth $7,000. It will allow the department to go to colleges like Youngstown State University and work a deal with cadets to work for the department for 1 to 2 years. In turn, the department will pay for their police academy training in full.

The grant is made for smaller police departments. As of now, Milton Township has seven full-time officers and five part-time officers.

“A lot of times, the smaller departments can’t compete with wages. They can’t compete with benefits,” said Chief Charles VanDyke. “But if we can get a person in for a year, two years, it helps our community.”

Milton Township Trustees swore in their new interim fire chief as well.

Kenneth Oles will head the fire department while Chief Harold Maynard is on paid administrative leave. Trustees again did not comment any further on why Maynard was put on leave.

First News has requested documentation from trustees but have not received that information yet.