Supervisors Say They Want Work Session To Discuss Police Protection
Mahaska County Courthouse
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met on Monday morning, May 20, 2019.
The board approved a budget amendment of 1 million dollars to the secondary road department. The reason for the amendment was placed upon the harsh winter that impacted the area.
Mark Groenendyk, Mahaska County Board of Supervisors Chair asked Mahaska County Sheriff Russ Van Renterghem about a proposed agreement extension with the city of Eddyville for police protection provided by the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office.
The proposed agreement would be an extension of the current contract for 60 hours a week of police protection.
Groenendyk was curious if the current cost to the city of Eddyville was sufficient to cover the cost of patrol services. Groenendyk says the current contract amount is approximately $26.20 per hour.
Groenendyk said the current cost is $94.00 per hour for patrol services. Van Renterghem said that is the cost per hour when three full-time deputies are on duty to patrol the whole county. “That’s not what it costs us to patrol Eddyville,” Van Renterghem explained.
“Eddyville, when they increased our hours, they went from 40 hours a month to 60 hours a month two years ago. They were informed at that time that I was working on strengthing the reserve units. The reserves, they picked up the extra 20. They actually do more than that.”
When called in for specific duties, the Mahaska County Reserve Deputies are paid $10 an hour for their service.
“Ballpark figure, if I had a reserve deputy doing the patrol down there, you’re looking at about $15 per hour,” explained Van Renterghem.
Those figures can go as high as $33 per hour if a regular full-time deputy were to patrol the area.
The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office contracts with four different communities in the county for police protection. All four communities are different in regards to the cost per hour for patrol services.
The communities reach out to the sheriff’s office in the fall of each year, as they begin their budget process, about extending their contracts for the police protection.
Van Renterghem said that he committed last fall to leave those costs to the cities as the same.
Beacon and University Park’s could be looking at increased costs for patrol services in the coming year.
The other community the Sheriff’s Office patrols is Fremont.
Groenendyk said that with six more weeks before the Eddyville contract needs to be signed, the work session would allow the development of a contract for protection based upon a formula, to pay the wages of a deputy.
Another item of discussion was the potential hiring of an economic development director for Mahaska County.
Groenendyk said he spoke with the company in charge of human resources for the county, and they sent him forms from other counties to use as a guideline.
Groenendyk said they would put out applications and see who applies for the position.
“I’ve heard nothing negative about this thought,” said Groenendyk to the rest of the supervisors.
MCARD director Deanne DeGroot currently helps the county with the economic development in her role.
Parker agreed saying to post the job to see what’s out there. “Looks good to me,” said Wanders in response.
The board agreed unanimously to look for a county economic director.
The supervisors had a split decision on a contract with the secondary road union employees. Groenendyk and Wanders agreed to the contract terms, while Parker disagreed and voted against the contract.
The disagreement came from the lack of communication between the contract negotiation [Mike Galloway] and what the board was informed with, as well as it’s integration with the Mahaska County Handbook.
A work session is now in the planning stages between the county, cities under the sheriff’s office protection, and the sheriff’s office to discuss the cost for continued protection in the future.
The board also heard from Deann DeGroot in regards to MCARD involvement within the county. Those included working with the Young Professionals, rural child care forum, educators in the workplace, that will include two weeks of classes for those educators that wish to learn more about Mahaska County businesses. They will also be making syncronist calls that will help local economic development better understand the needs of local business.
Mahaska County Conservation Director Dave Sedivec addressed the board in regards to activities the Mahaska County Conservation is involved with.
Those include the planning of an open house for the new Environmental Learning Center that will take place on May 31st, beginning at 4 pm. Watch the Mahaska County Conservation Facebook page for updates on parking for the event.
Sedivec also updated the board on the camping season at this point, which has been impacted by the wet spring.
The board also approved the minutes of the May 6, 2019 meeting.
Also approved were two payroll changes for the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Department jail staff.
The board made final approval of general obligation bonds for the amount of 4.565 million dollars for the emergency radio system.
The board tabled an agreement with Heartland Insurance until some aspects of the agreement are fixed. One of those being a typo on the date of the contract.
The board also approved a secondary road fiscal budget due to the budget amendment that was passed earlier in the meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors is June 3, 2019, at 9 am in the 3rd Floor Conference Room of the Mahaska County Courthouse.
