Amador County – The Ione City Council today (Tuesday, September 7th) will discuss a city-wide initiative about the future of the Ione Police Department. The council was expected to consider placing the initiative on the next regular ballot in November 2012, or to consider filing a lawsuit to try to block the initiative. That was before City Clerk Janice Traverso found legal errors in the petition that she said would not allow her to certify the petition and election. The council should discuss that development today. Councilman Lee Ard last week said he did not want to wait 2 years to settle the issue by vote, but he expected a large majority of the Ione registered voters would support the police department if it did go to a vote. He and Vice Mayor David Plank at a past meeting voted to file suit against the petition, but were outvoted by Mayor Skip Schaufel and council members Andrea Bonham and Jim Ulm. At the time, city Attorney Kristen Castanos told the council the initiative was illegal and unconstitutional. Since then, initiative proponents Jim Scully and Denise Roberts gathered enough signatures to place the issue on the next ballot, but may have made an error of omission on the petitions. Ione Police Chief Michael L. Johnson said the city council would “make a decision on the direction they are taking” today. Ard said he doubted Scully’s claim that his petition was about saving money by getting rid of Ione Police Department and replacing it with the Amador County Sheriff’s Department. Ard said the city council heard from Sheriff Martin Ryan in March that he could take over policing Ione at a startup cost of $300,000 to $400,000. And it would also cost at least $1.3 million a year for him to run a police force in Ione. In comparison, Ard said IPD operates with 10 personnel and an $800,000 annual budget. IPD has 6 sworn officers, including Chief Johnson; a records clerk; 3 reserve officers; and a community police assistant. Johnson said IPD received overwhelming support from the community and police leaders (including the sheriff) at the March meeting. He said Ryan remarked that IPD has a good model of policing and good cooperation with other agencies. Johnson said IPD is “effectively tackling a lot of the enforcement issues here and its working well.” He said: “Were not perfect, we make mistakes. And we do everything in our power to correct it and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Ard said the department is successfully working to make Ione a drug-free city. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tuesday, 07 September 2010 06:44
Chief, Councilman say IPD has major support
Amador County – The Ione City Council today (Tuesday, September 7th) will discuss a city-wide initiative about the future of the Ione Police Department. The council was expected to consider placing the initiative on the next regular ballot in November 2012, or to consider filing a lawsuit to try to block the initiative. That was before City Clerk Janice Traverso found legal errors in the petition that she said would not allow her to certify the petition and election. The council should discuss that development today. Councilman Lee Ard last week said he did not want to wait 2 years to settle the issue by vote, but he expected a large majority of the Ione registered voters would support the police department if it did go to a vote. He and Vice Mayor David Plank at a past meeting voted to file suit against the petition, but were outvoted by Mayor Skip Schaufel and council members Andrea Bonham and Jim Ulm. At the time, city Attorney Kristen Castanos told the council the initiative was illegal and unconstitutional. Since then, initiative proponents Jim Scully and Denise Roberts gathered enough signatures to place the issue on the next ballot, but may have made an error of omission on the petitions. Ione Police Chief Michael L. Johnson said the city council would “make a decision on the direction they are taking” today. Ard said he doubted Scully’s claim that his petition was about saving money by getting rid of Ione Police Department and replacing it with the Amador County Sheriff’s Department. Ard said the city council heard from Sheriff Martin Ryan in March that he could take over policing Ione at a startup cost of $300,000 to $400,000. And it would also cost at least $1.3 million a year for him to run a police force in Ione. In comparison, Ard said IPD operates with 10 personnel and an $800,000 annual budget. IPD has 6 sworn officers, including Chief Johnson; a records clerk; 3 reserve officers; and a community police assistant. Johnson said IPD received overwhelming support from the community and police leaders (including the sheriff) at the March meeting. He said Ryan remarked that IPD has a good model of policing and good cooperation with other agencies. Johnson said IPD is “effectively tackling a lot of the enforcement issues here and its working well.” He said: “Were not perfect, we make mistakes. And we do everything in our power to correct it and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Ard said the department is successfully working to make Ione a drug-free city. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Latest from
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