New public safety administrator resigned from Ann Arbor position April 1st
FLINT -- Just three weeks after resigning as public safety administrator in Ann Arbor, Barnett Jones is back on the job, agreeing to a three-year contract to serve as Flint's public safety administrator.
"I want to be a part of restoring public safety here. I want the people to dial 911 and have a police officer show up the same day, within the same moment that they call," said Jones, who will make $135,000 a year with limited benefits.
Jones has 38 years of law enforcement experience, including stints as police chief of Sterling Heights and Ann Arbor.
"I'd been chief of police for two of the safest cities in the state. It is my responsibility to make sure that they stayed that way," added Jones.
He eventually oversaw fire services in Ann Arbor, but publicly disagreed with plans for public safety layoffs in the city.
Now he will attempt to improve public safety in Flint, a city with a dwindling police force and the ever present possibility of more firefighter layoffs.
"Its going to be harder but we're going to have to find a way to make it work because those officers were officers on grants, and those grants were going to run out," said Jones when referring to Mike Brown's 2013 budget.
