Three cheers for the Ishpeming City Council, City Manager Craig Cugini and city Police Chief Steve Snowaert for doing the administrative work necessary to get a nice hazardous pay stipend for the city’s police department for its work during the pandemic.

The council met last week and approved $12,000 in payments to 11 police officers and one dispatcher, a Mining Journal story on the matter detailed.

The city’s volunteer fire department did not put in for the funds as the fire chief did not feel the department’s activities currently met the criteria of the CARES Act, which is where the money originates.

Under the program, law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, 911 operators, local units of government, corrections officers, airport public safety officers and eligible personnel associated with ambulance operations are eligible if they meet certain guidelines.

We suspect the amount of money at issue — $1,000 per person — isn’t going to make or break anyone. That said, simply recognizing the work IPD officers have done and continue to do during these troubling times can only be described as a very good thing.

We hope other area departments also put in for the funds and in doing so, recognize appropriate personnel.