QUINCY — The Quincy Police Department is two more officers closer to being full staffed.

At a regular meeting of the Quincy City Council on Tuesday, Police Chief Kieth Siebert swore in the city’s new police captain, Ryan Green, and newly minted police officer Michael Kvavle.

According to Siebert, this puts the Quincy Police at 16 officers.

“Twenty is full strength, so we’ll be at 22 with the chief and the captain,” Siebert said. “There’s still room for four.”

“You have brought on two of the most professional and highly sought after law enforcement officers in the state of Washington,” said Ken Jones, a chief deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, in reference to Siebert and Green, both of whom are former sheriff’s deputies.

Jones then politely asked the city of Quincy to stop hiring from the sheriff’s office.

The city council also discussed a request from Grant County Fire District No. 3 to increase the monthly stipend for resident firefighters to $500 from the current $300 and residents to claim up to $5,000 per year in tuition assistance.

According to District 3 Fire Chief Don Fortier, the program — which helps college students prepare for careers as firefighters and EMTs — has been overtaken by resident programs in neighboring fire districts.

“The goal is to attract people into the program,” Fortier said. “We’re competing with the Chelan County Fire District.”

The fire district is asking for an increase to $74,000 per year for the program — half of which is paid for by the district and half by the city.

“This is really cost effective, and we can train eight or 10 volunteers for the cost of hiring two full-time firefighters,” Fortier said.

The city council took no action on the request.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.