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Orion trustees have voted 4-2 to continue having the Henry County Sheriff’s Department provide police coverage here.
Trustees Roger Peterson, Robert “Deano” O’Leary, Steve Newman and Mel Drucker voted in favor of a motion to continue the contract with the county.
Voting against the motion were Dale Stiles and Jamie Lawson.
Village President Jim Cooper left the door open for Stiles to revise the costs of his proposal for Orion to establish its own police department.
The vote came during the village board meeting on Monday, June 20, which about 20 people attended.
Quality of service
Before the vote, Lawson said it was too soon to decide the issue. The village board took more time—six months—to talk about curbside recycling.
“We could delay one month, two months, but what is going to change in the pros and cons?” Cooper asked. “My concern is the quality of the individual we’re going to get for the money we can afford to pay.”
Deputies have told Cooper they won’t come to Orion. He said the village would get someone who has been a problem elsewhere, or someone young who will get a year of two experience here and then go to another department.
Renegotiating contract
Both Lawson and Newman said the board should renegotiate the contract with
the sheriff’s department.
“Let’s see what the contract of the future looks like,” Lawson said. “Obviously they’re interested in keeping this contract. They’re going to work with us to save money.”
Orion needs to follow up on some of the provisions of the contract, Lawson said. The contract requires the county to pay for radios, but Orion covered the cost of the most recent purchase.
Cooper said he and Stiles have discussed the cost of the contract with Sheriff Jim Padilla.
“There just wasn’t any fat to cut,” the village president said.
O’Leary noted that one of Stiles’ concerns was that Orion had no say in negotiating the contract with the county.
But Padilla, who is in his first year as sheriff, has said the trustees could have input, according to O’Leary.
“Any contract can be negotiated,” O’Leary said.
County deputies assigned to Orion are paid according to a salary schedule the
Henry County Board negotiates with the Fraternal Order of Police, Stiles said. Orion has no input in those talks.
“I can’t say if Orion could have a seat at the FOP negotiations. I can ask,” Padilla said.
Orion trustees have voted 4-2 to continue having the Henry County Sheriff’s Department provide police coverage here.
Trustees Roger Peterson, Robert “Deano” O’Leary, Steve Newman and Mel Drucker voted in favor of a motion to continue the contract with the county.
Voting against the motion were Dale Stiles and Jamie Lawson.
Village President Jim Cooper left the door open for Stiles to revise the costs of his proposal for Orion to establish its own police department.
The vote came during the village board meeting on Monday, June 20, which about 20 people attended.
Quality of service
Before the vote, Lawson said it was too soon to decide the issue. The village board took more time—six months—to talk about curbside recycling.
“We could delay one month, two months, but what is going to change in the pros and cons?” Cooper asked. “My concern is the quality of the individual we’re going to get for the money we can afford to pay.”
Deputies have told Cooper they won’t come to Orion. He said the village would get someone who has been a problem elsewhere, or someone young who will get a year of two experience here and then go to another department.
Renegotiating contract
Both Lawson and Newman said the board should renegotiate the contract with
the sheriff’s department.
“Let’s see what the contract of the future looks like,” Lawson said. “Obviously they’re interested in keeping this contract. They’re going to work with us to save money.”
Orion needs to follow up on some of the provisions of the contract, Lawson said. The contract requires the county to pay for radios, but Orion covered the cost of the most recent purchase.
Cooper said he and Stiles have discussed the cost of the contract with Sheriff Jim Padilla.
“There just wasn’t any fat to cut,” the village president said.
O’Leary noted that one of Stiles’ concerns was that Orion had no say in negotiating the contract with the county.
But Padilla, who is in his first year as sheriff, has said the trustees could have input, according to O’Leary.
“Any contract can be negotiated,” O’Leary said.
County deputies assigned to Orion are paid according to a salary schedule the
Henry County Board negotiates with the Fraternal Order of Police, Stiles said. Orion has no input in those talks.
“I can’t say if Orion could have a seat at the FOP negotiations. I can ask,” Padilla said.
“We could let the county board know we are unhappy and we want to talk about it,” O’Leary said.
It’s not reasonable to think a deputy who could make $63,000 a year working for the county would come to Orion for $50,000, Cooper said.
Stiles said the village can get out of the contract with the county by giving 90 days’ notice.
A lot of people had been commenting on the proposal without reading it, Stiles said.
“What else do they have to know besides the cost and savings of having our own police department?” Drucker said. “They’re not questioning your figures.”
The proposal is only six pages long, Stiles said. It calls for the police chief to handle payroll and other administrative duties, and for the board to hire and fire officers. No one trustee could get mad and fire an officer.
Cost savings
“The plan I propose would not cut police protection, it would just cut costs,” Stiles said. “We have an obligation as trustees to save money.”
“It’s a cost savings,” Lawson told his fellow trustees. “You guys don’t want to look at cost savings.”
Savings from a change in police protection could not be used for water and sewer projects, Drucker said.
Police costs are paid from the general fund, while customer payments for water and sewer are used to cover the costs of those services, Drucker said.
Orion could save about $42,000 with its own police department, which would have two full-time officers and enough part-time officers to provide 24/7 coverage, according to Stiles.
Since some of the first-year costs are one-time only expenses for equipment and supplies, the village could save about $50,000 in the second year, he said.
The contract with the county calls for three full-time officers providing 120 hours of coverage a week. When a full-time officer is off duty, a part-timer fills in.
During a few shifts each week, no officer is on duty in Orion, but patrol officers in the area respond to emergencies.
Drucker said Stiles’ figures compare the county’s three full-time officers to the village’s two full-timers plus part-timers.
“What would be the cost if we went to the county and said we want two full-timers, and we want to fill the rest of the shifts with part-timers?” Drucker said.
That would save $63,000, Stiles said. Padilla, who attended the meeting, said $63,000 was correct.
Stiles said he could have asked the county for two full-time officers and some part-timers, but he wanted to provide Orion with 24/7 coverage.
The estimate of the costs of a village police department included “a top-end number for an experienced police chief,” Stiles said. “The exact salary would be based on experience.”
Management issues
Stiles acknowledged there would be growing pains involved in setting up a village police department. But he was sure the trustees could work through any problems.
“Everybody here is fully capable of managing a police department,” he said.
Orion would not find itself in the position of Cordova, which has achieved some notoriety for problems with its own police department, Stiles said.
The entire board, rather than one trustee, would be responsible for managing the police, he said.
Orion resident Jim Cravens told the board he remembers when Orion had its own police department.
“It was a real mess,” he said. “There were conflicts of interest.”
Stiles responded, “I can’t imagine we would base a decision on something that happened 30 years ago.”
“Board members years ago were very intelligent,” O’Leary said. “They had trouble getting rid of the police chief. I have lived here 74 years. I do not want to be embarrassed.”
“How is it leadership if you can’t get control of a two- or three-man department?” Stiles said.
Larry Greim, security officer and vice president of BankORION, said he works with local law enforcement officers to ensure that everything possible is being done to provide a safe environment for bank customers and employees.
He urged the board to consider the level of service when making a decision.
The sheriff’s department has responded professionally when called to help the bank.
Stiles asked if an Orion police department could provide the service that the bank needs, and Greim answered, “I really can’t speculate on the future.”
The village president said he had spoken to officials in other communities, and he had found no one who wanted his town to have its own police department.
