City reconsiders outsourcing police department, moves ahead with hiring chief
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RONAN — Last week members of the Ronan City Council leaned more toward outsourcing its police department than when they first considered the idea in September 2013, but the council ultimately voted to keep the department in-house and initiate new procedures for hiring a police chief.
“I think we have to resolve this,” Councilmember Cal Hardy said. “I think (outsourcing) is almost a knee-jerk reaction and throwing our hands up in the air in failure, and just giving it to someone else and saying, ‘Take it.’ Let’s get a police chief.”
The city, which has the highest violent crime rate in the state, has gone through three police chiefs since July 2013, when longtime department leader Dan Wadsworth was stripped of his law enforcement certifications by the Montana Public Safety Officer and Training Standards Council. Wadsworth was accused of falsifying documents for his son’s admission to the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in 2011.
The City of Ronan, Mayor Kim Aipperspach, Dan Wadsworth, his son Trevor Wadsworth, and the Ronan Police Department are facing a federal class action lawsuit that alleges Trevor and other officers arrested people though they weren’t properly certified.
Aipperspach said outsourcing will not untangle the city from its legal woes.
“The headaches we’ve already got won’t go away,” Aipperspach said. “The things that have happened have happened.”
Aipperspach favored keeping the department in-house, as did Councilmembers Chris Adler and Robert McCrea.
Councilmember Marlene Melton gave conditional support for keeping the police department as is.
“I think if things keep going like they are now, you are better off going with the county,” Melton said.
Community member Tracy Morigeau Frank asked the council to consider transferring police duties to the Lake County Sheriff’s Department for one year. Frank said the year of outsourcing would give the city police coverage it desperately needs, and time to completely overhaul the system, instead of making piecemeal corrections to problems that have abounded in the months since Wadsworth’s departure.
“I know you all take the trust of the voters of the community seriously,” Morigeau Frank said. “You work hard to spend the taxpayers’ dollars responsibly. “Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of trying to plug the leaks in the dam and not realizing the entire structure is in jeopardy.”
Cost was a major factor when the council considered outsourcing last fall. Lake County Undersherriff Dan Yonkin told councilmembers in September 2013 that it would cost $360,000 per year to staff four full-time and one part-time officer in Ronan. That figure included the $45,000 start-up costs of the program. The total was more than police department’s budget, but Yonkin said there was little price negotiation for the cost. Sheriff’s deputies’ salaries are set by union guidelines.
But Sheriff-elect Don Bell said he’s researched the issue and thinks he might be able to provide 24/7 police coverage for Ronan less expensively.
“I think that’s pretty high in cost,” Bell said.
Councilmembers said Bell’s input was encouraging, but Bell can’t officially work with the city in any capacity until he takes office in January 2015.
“I know you’ve got to do something for six months,” Bell said.
Councilmembers Roger Romero and Ellen Kaphammer said they would like to see the county take control of police coverage. Romero noted that after 11 months and two failed attempts at hiring a police chief, it is not “knee-jerk” to consider outsourcing.
The council decided to try to find another chief in the interim, and set new guidelines for hiring procedures.
Earlier in June Police Commissioner Mark Nelson raised questions about whether or not the city council’s hiring procedures were legal.
Applications reviewed by the police commissioner weren’t the same, and asked questions that broke equal opportunity employment laws, Nelson claimed.
The new application process will mimic the City of Hamilton’s process. Aipperspach said the new policy isn’t much different from what the City of Ronan had in place, but under new procedures applicants will be required to fill out one standard application. If any single piece of documentation is missing it will eliminate the applicant from the hiring pool.
The council agreed to accept applications for chief position until July 10.
