GREENFIELD — To close the city’s four-hour gap in local police coverage during the early-morning hours, the Police Department has extended three conditional offers of employment to officers whose salaries would be paid using $375,000 in grant funding.

Conditional offers allow the department to proceed with background checks, physical exams and psychological testing, according to Deputy Police Chief William Gordon. Of these three officers, one is certified by the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission and has completed the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC) Full-Time Police Academy, while the other two would still be expected to go through the academy, ideally beginning in April.

A fourth officer, who currently works part-time for the department, has been offered a full-time position, Gordon added. This officer has attended the MPTC Bridge Academy and, with approval from MPTC, he can get a waiver so as not to attend the full-time academy.

Gordon said with the exception of the part-time officer’s move to full-time, these positions would be funded by a $375,000 Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant. The part-time officer, meanwhile, will replace an officer who left the department in February to attend the State Police Academy.

“They’re working very closely toward closing the overnight shift gap,” the mayor’s Chief of Staff Dani Letourneau told the City Council at its meeting Wednesday night.

The push to recruit new officers follows Mayor Roxann Wedegartner’s announcement earlier this year that, due to cuts to the fiscal year 2023 budget, the department would temporarily be without 24/7 local coverage. On March 1, the department temporarily shifted to a schedule of two, 10-hour shifts: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. Officers work four days, with four days off. Between 3 and 7 a.m., State Police will serve as primary coverage.

In January, Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. clarified that while Greenfield police won’t be scheduled to patrol between 3 and 7 a.m., if officers need to be called in during those hours for emergencies, whether it’s for storm-related flooding or domestic violence, there is the ability and overtime to do that.

“While I hate the fact we have to do this because I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to not have 24 hours of coverage for a community our size, people and money are required to do that and we don’t have either of those at this point,” Haigh said in a phone interview this week.

Haigh said that between six months of the Full-Time Police Academy and two to four months of training within the Police Department itself, it could be up to 10 months before those two officers that require this training — if they continue through the hiring process — are full-time members of the department.

Haigh also addressed questions about whether he maintains an active employment status with the Police Department amid his lack of in-person participation at recent meetings that were relevant to the department’s overnight coverage. While he was unable to attend a meeting with the Western Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association on March 6 due to a flight for a pre-arranged vacation, Haigh said he participated remotely in a meeting on March 3.

“I was on by phone because I was at an appointment,” he said. “I had this appointment set up for a long time.”

Haigh said he does not anticipate any upcoming retirements, including his own. Wedegartner confirmed Haigh remains the city’s chief of police and declined to comment further on any personnel-related matters.

In an email to city councilors and legislators, Wedegartner shared that on March 3, she, Haigh, Gordon and local legislators convened with public safety officials to discuss the plan for State Police coverage in Greenfield. The meeting, she said, was facilitated by the local delegation.

“The plan for coverage is as follows: the local Massachusetts State Police will support Greenfield PD’s overnight shift for the next 30 days while the city of Greenfield reviews how to proceed,” Wedegartner wrote. “After 30 days, [the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and State Police] will reassess the current plan to determine appropriate next steps.”

A State Police command center has been parked on the Police Station property since March 3, Gordon said. The vehicle is staffed 24/7 by a State Police trooper whose primary job is to ensure it is functioning “normally.” Between 3 and 7 a.m., up to four State Police officers are assigned to the command center.

Gordon, who clarified that the command center is not funded by the city, said on Thursday that to his knowledge, there haven’t been complaints directed at the Police Department for a change in response time since State Police took over primary service between 3 and 7 a.m.

“We want to thank the State Police for developing this temporary plan to ensure the safety of our residents and our local businesses,” Wedegartner said in her email. “I look forward to a cooperative and collaborative relationship with our State Police.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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