Grays Harbor Sheriff Rick Scott says it will cost the cities of Elma and McCleary a total of $900,000 for his office to provide police services, money that would enable him to hire six more deputies and have a dedicated sergeant work with the new deputies.
Scott appeared before the Elma City Council Monday night to give an estimate for services and spoke about what the services would entail. Elma is considering contracting with the Sheriff’s Office for police coverage after the departure of Elma Police Chief Jeff Troumbley and as a way to save costs. Elma Mayor Dave Osgood is in favor of the concept, but the City Council must be convinced.
The City of Elma set a workshop to continue talking about the possibility for 6 p.m. Monday at Elma City Hall. Osgood is inviting the public to attend, hoping to get public input on the idea. Thus far, despite publicity for the past few months, no one has spoken at a public comment period about the idea. Osgood says he’s surprised “we haven’t had people knocking down our door asking about this.”
Scott has yet to appear before the McCleary City Council, but the city’s police force is at a crossroads after voters turned down a property tax to benefit police services in August. McCleary Mayor Gary Dent has not been a big fan of contracting out police services, but several council members think it’s the way to go.
“If I were McCleary, I would do it,” said Elma Councilman David Blackett. “At one point, I was totally against it. Now, I’m thinking this may be the way to go.”
Elma Councilwoman Debbie Thurman said she was worried that, down the line, services could be reduced if the City of McCleary opts to contract, then changes its mind. Scott said if Elma goes it alone, the cost for services would be $600,000 to $650,000 for four deputies and the sergeant. If McCleary goes it alone, the cost for services would be $200,000 to $250,000.
“If McCleary chose not to, then I wouldn’t need as many officers,” Scott said Monday. “I’m not selling this, I’m just telling you what the options are.”
Osgood says Elma currently spends $944,000 for a seven-man police force. The McCleary is currently paying $470,000 for its three-officer department.
Scott says he’s divided the county into different zones. In East County, he would have three deputies patrol “Baker 16” going from the Montesano area to the Elma area and north along Satsop Road and Cougar Smith Road as well as “Baker 17” from the Elma area to the McCleary and Oakville areas. There’s one dedicated deputy in that area today, who he would also keep on the new detachment. He says officers would be within 10 to 15 minutes of responding to calls, depending on how urgent the call is. One deputy would be assigned to the East County Detachment 24 hours a day, while two deputies would be assigned to work between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. nightly. Teams work on a four days on, four days off schedule. The contracts would also allow for 77 hours of in-city traffic patrols for each city.
Scott said that the call volume from both cities “wouldn’t double our call volume, but it would be close to doubling it.”
Scott’s proposal would provide dedicated service to the cities. Extras could also be worked out, like responding to residential burglar alarms and purchasing blocks of overtime to cover parades, like the Buckaroo Days Parade the city of Elma hosts in September.
Elma Councilman Charlie Butterfield directed city staff to come up with an alternative for what the Elma Police force would look like if the city were to cut its budget by $300,000. Osgood said he’d come up with that for the workshop.
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