News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters area residents will soon start exploring whether to contract city police service out to the Deschutes County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff Greg Brown proposed merging Sisters police services with the sheriff's department at the July 24 city council meeting. The council agreed to form a citizens' review group to explore the proposal. Brown told The Nugget that his proposal is a starting place for the review committee, "which may have a whole separate set of issues that I haven't thought of that they'd like to address."
The ultimate goal, Brown said, is to provide 24-hour coverage. Currently, the city does not have a 24-hour patrol, though officers are on call at home during the gaps in coverage. Brown noted, too, that if a Sisters officer must transport a subject to jail, he leaves the city uncovered.
The proposed merger would station six deputies and a supervisor in Sisters, and could save the budget-strapped city thousands of dollars. According to Brown, Sisters' police budget will hit an estimated $261,846 in 1998. Brown believes the sheriff's department can provide the same or a greater level of service for approximantely $206,200, a savings of $55,646 for that year.
Under the proposal, Sisters would pay for three positions, which could be filled by current Sisters officers.
Officer Don Pray has already taken a position with the county, leaving three officers - Allan Borland, Wayne Morgan and Lieutenant Rich Shawver - as Sisters' full-time police contingent. The city and county would share the cost of a police secretary.
County residents would not pay for deputies for the city.
Both Brown and Mayor Steve Wilson emphasized that the city does not have a problem with the performance of the city's police services.
"I'm not here because of any perceived problem, because I don't think there are any," Brown said.
But the department's administrative relationship with the city has been rocky for the past year. The department has unionized, and the city settled a lawsuit with the department on Friday, paying approximately $30,000 in costs and damages associated with a dispute over overtime pay (see story, page 1).
Under a merger, the city would see some savings in liability insurance on the officers and would not have to handle any labor negotiations, Brown noted.
Brown indicated that Sisters officers would likely continue to serve with the county.
"They're good officers, and I'd be very comfortable absorbing them," Brown said. "They're not going away, that's for sure."
The sheriff argued that Sisters faces unique challenges: a small city serving a large area population, with most business owners living outside the city and a regular influx of large numbers of tourists. Those factors leave "a small group of citizens supporting a large infrastructure," Brown said.
Wilson endorsed the information-gathering mission of the review committee, which the council will work on forming in the coming weeks.
"I can't see anything but good in looking at the possibilities, especially in light of our current budget," Wilson said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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