News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sheriff Greg Brown assured Sisters area residents Thursday, October 9, that county taxpayers will not subsidize police services for the City of Sisters under a proposed police merger.
In the second of three public hearings before the Sisters City Council, Sheriff Brown fielded questions about a proposed contract that would make the Deschutes County Sheriff's Department responsible for law enforcement both inside and outside the City of Sisters.
Indian Ford resident Howard Paine queried Brown on how the proposal would "pencil" with the sheriff's department hiring all four Sisters police officers at higher salaries.
Brown explained that the department would actually "pick up" three officers; the fourth would fill an existing sheriff's department opening.
According to Sheriff Brown, the proposed contract would put a total of seven deputies on patrol in the Sisters area, and save the city about $43,000 in the first year. But that savings doesn't come at the expense of county residents outside Sisters, Brown insisted.
"I guarantee that the (county) Board of Commissioners would not sign the contract either if they felt there was an unfair subsidy on either side," Brown said.
Dry Canyon resident Ted Eady asked how Sisters could recoup property such as patrol cars and radios if the merger didn't work out and the city needed to restore its own police department.
Sisters would transfer ownership of its property to the county to fund a $38,000 buy-back of its officers' back sick leave and vacation time.
Brown said the contract could provide for some kind of equitable repurchase of cars. As for radio equipment, Brown noted that Sisters Police does not now have its own radio system, and its present radio equipment will be obsolete for use with the county's new radio system which will be fully operational in 2001.
County resident Dave Ellison testified that the merger makes sense in an era of diminishing public safety resources.
"We really have a duplication of effort while we all try to keep our heads up and keep from sinking," Ellison said.
Virginia Groom asked the council whether the residents of Sisters would have the chance to vote on the merger.
Mayor Steve Wilson responded that who should make the decision on the merger is one of the questions that the council would wrestle with in workshops following the final public hearing, set for October 23.
Councilor Sheryl Whent noted that the public hearings were designed to give citizens a chance to voice their opinions for or against the proposal. Groom declined to offer an opinion.
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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