City, County close to signing interlocal agreement

DAYTON–The City Council’s Public Safety Committee met and reviewed the proposed interlocal agreement with Columbia County for law enforcement, dispatch, and municipal court services, reported Mayor Weatherford at the February 10 Council meeting.

After review of the proposed agreement, Weatherford the Council had some recommendations and changes to the contract before signing. “They had some recommendations that I was able to forward on to our attorney, who in turn sent [Columbia County Prosecuting Attorney] Dale Slack a letter on the changes we are pursuing on this contract,” said Weatherford. “So, we’re hoping that Mr. Slack can get those changes taken care of and we can get this contract signed and put this negotiation behind us.”

Some big items negotiated during mediation was not included in the contract. “There were a couple items that were pretty big items that had been negotiated during the mediation that were not included in the contract that we received from the County,” said Councilman Dain Nysoe.

Other items are to keep a deputy in the city limits at all times and provide written reports to the City. “The biggest one I think that the parties agreed at mediation to have a dedicated Deputy Sheriff in city limits at all time, so we requested that that be listed in the exhibits of the interlocal agreement,” said Weatherford. Another big one, the parties agreed that the Sheriffs would provide monthly reports to City Council. In the contract that they proposed, it didn’t specify that that is a written report and so that’s also something that we requested that some of the language should be added to clarify the contents of the monthly report.”

“The other item was being invoiced by the County on a monthly basis,” Nysoe added. Weatherford affirmed that the City requested to be invoiced, and asked it to be added to the contract in the letter to Slack.

Columbia County Sheriff Joe Helm reported the hiring of new deputy, David Walling. Helm said he has experience with youth and would be a good fit as a Resource Officer for the Dayton School. He also said that another candidate is being considered to fill another deputy position. This would provide the County with six deputies on the road. Helm indicated the Sheriff’s Department is still uncertain about filling the Chief Deputy position at this time. He also spoke about a number of candidates interested in applying as reserve deputies.

Also, according to Helm, the County Search and Rescue program is merging with Walla Walla County to become the Blue Mountain Search and Rescue Program. He said, “Both our county and their county are very excited. It looks like it may actually be used as a state model to be implemented in other areas. It gives us some valuable resources from Walla Walla, and it also allows them to tap into our resources.”

Helm referred to the recent burglaries which the Department is still investigating. He asked anyone with information to contact them.

The City will advertise for letters of interest for the vacancy left by councilmember Matt Wiens. In the event of multiple letters, the Council will discuss candidates. They plan to appoint someone at the March Council meeting.