With a new mayor and major changes to council, the village of Chesapeake hosted it first regular monthly meeting on Monday.

At the top of the agenda was a proposal by Mayor Kim Oldaker to increase pay for the village’s police department.

As the department’s chief, Randy Thompson stated, officers regularly put their lives on the line, entering dangerous situations and having to deal with fentanyl and other substances prevalent due to the opioid crisis.

The key to building a strong department is to keep officers long term and, by offering more pay, this becomes more likely.

This is the second time the village has increased pay in the past year. Last year, the council approved Mayor Tommy Templeton’s request to give officers a raise.

Prior to that, the village had the lowest pay in the county at $11.50 an hour.

Monday’s move builds on that and will go a long way to making sure the police department gets what is needed and can grow into a position where it can better keep things safe in Chesapeake.