Amador County – Ione City Council last week discussed a police forum held last March, and directed staff to look into the cost of contracting its policing duties with the Amador County Sheriff’s Department.

City Manager Kim Kerr said it was unclear what was expected from city staff after direction was given at the forum, which was organized after a petition for an initiative to disband the Ione Police Department began to circulate.

A transcript of the well-attended public forum said the council voted 5-0 to oppose the initiative, and 4-1 to “distribute the council’s opinion on the initiative to the public.” Vice Mayor Plank and Councilman Lee Ard then voted to “initiate a lawsuit to challenge the initiative,” with Council members Andrea Bonham, Skip Schaufel and Jim Ulm dissenting.

The council then voted 5-0 “to start preparing staff reports on the total effects of the initiative,” and that the “reports provide a direct comparison of costs and services provided by the city versus the county.”

Kerr said the city council was expecting staff to come back with reports, but the initiative by Jim Scully and Denise Robertson was disqualified for technical problems. Kerr said the reports were based on the initiative, and since there was no ballot initiative, staff did not work on reports.

The council directed staff to make a Law Enforcement Services Cost Analysis of the police department, and told Kerr to request from Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan, an estimate of the cost to provide law enforcement services in Ione similar to that provided by the IPD.

Kerr said the idea was to look at costs and see if there was a cost savings to contract with the sheriff, and give the council the ability to determine if it is feasible.

She said she has seen Sutter Creek’s request for a service cost analysis by the Sheriff’s department. Kerr said: “We want the exact same thing: 24-7 coverage, a substation, basically.”

Kerr said Thursday she was working on a contact letter for Ryan, and hoped to send it Friday. She expected that the City Council probably would not get the information before its April 4 meeting.

She has looked at similar contracts. She received contracts from cities in Kern and Stanislaus counties, and was still awaiting information requested from a city in Tulare County. She wanted to see how the contracts listed the services, so she could make the request as thorough as possible.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.