The city of West Point plans on utilizing the law enforcement services of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for the next several months.
When now-retired West Point Police Chief Brad Roberts retired in April, his successor was Jackson Jones. Jones was hired as interim chief, with the understanding that he get certified at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.
West Point Mayor Gary Peitz said that didn’t pan out and Jones has since resigned.
The city had been in a 28e agreement with Donnellson to share a police chief. Peitz said he had been in talks with Donnellson to continue the agreement. Discussion had leaned toward Donnellson taking the lead on the police chief hiring and managing and would bill West Point, whereas West Point had taken the lead in previous years.
Those talks have continued, though Donnellson has moved forward with hiring Jamie Carle (who has been with the Fort Madison Police Department) as their chief, without continuing the 28e with West Point.
“[They] have advised us that they want to get their chief acclimated to their community first, and basically wanted six months for that to happen, and said that they’d be willing to talk to us again in December to see where things were going to be at,” he said. “That doesn’t work real good for us because that leaves us hanging.”
Peitz and City Administrator Randy Welding have been in contact with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. That department has been helping cover West Point law enforcement needs.
Sheriff Elliott Vandenberg provided three options for the city to consider. One would be a one-year coverage agreement, with a cost of $80,000. The second option would be month to month coverage at $7,000 a month. The third option would be a longterm partnership agreement of three to four years with an option to extend.
Peitz said he and Welding believe that the month to month coverage agreement through December would be the best option with which to move forward at this time. In December, the cities of West Point and Donnellson would have more discussions and potentially form an agreement.
According to last year’s budget, Welding said West Point’s total police department expenses came to around $140,000, with Donnellson reimbursing around $50,000.
Community member Deina Merschbrock attended the city council meeting, having concerns about law enforcement coverage, particularly for the upcoming Sweet Corn Festival. She asked whether the city would consider other candidates that had applied for the position of police chief with Roberts’ retirement.
Peitz said right now, the goal is to cover the next six months through December to see if Donnellson wants to continue with the 28e agreement.
“Then, at that point, if they do not want to pursue it, then I think we need to look at all options that are open,” he said. “This is just kind of a stopgap measure for right now until we find out what we’re going to be able to do with Donnellson.”
The benefit of having an agreement with Donnellson would be the ability to share expenses.
“We really don’t hardly see how that city, our size or their size, can fund a whole department. That’s 140 grand,” Welding said.
Peitz said he would have a lot of questions regarding a future agreement.
“I would think that we would need to convene the public safety committee to look at all the options and then bring a recommendation back to the full council,” he said. “That would seem to me to be the appropriate way to go about it.”
Peitz said Vandenberg said there would be four dedicated Lee County Sheriff’s Office staff members in town for the Sweet Corn Festival
“He [Vandenberg] is obviously interested in going long term with us,” he said. “We’re ‘test driving’ them for six months to make sure that they’re going to follow through with what he says in the agreements, and that they put the best foot forward. I’ve got to believe that that would continue.
The West Point City Council agreed that the month to month coverage agreement with Lee County Sheriff’s Office seemed like the best choice at this time. For $7,000 a month, the sheriff’s office would provided response to all calls for service within the city, law enforcement coverage for fairs, parades and all city-sponsored events, patrol and enforcement services conducted by currently-employed deputies, several hours of dedicated patrol time per shift, access to full-time detective services, access to two K9 units, special response team response capabilities, crisis negotiations team response capabilities and drug task force support and investigative services.
This agreement would take effect on Aug. 1
“So through this month, they’re going to continue doing what they’ve been doing, which is is responding to calls in town, and they’ll do some drive throughs for right now,” Peitz said.
Council member Brian Meierotto said as a first responder, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has been showing up well.
“When I go to rescue call, they’re here. They’re here,” he said. “They’re doing a pretty good job.”
Council member Larry Buchholz said he has also seen sheriff’s deputies patrolling in town.