Amador County – Sutter Creek City Council approved a preliminary budget Monday that may come to have another city officer, but might mean a loss of participation in the county narcotics officer program.
Sutter Creek Police Chief Brian Klier said the budget did not include the Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Taskforce officer, which was funded by a grant, and the City Council intends to bring that city officer back to the SCPD.
During budget discussion, Klier told the council that with the two major cases, the murder at Days Inn, and the stabbing at Amador High School both fell on his shift, and he put in a lot of extra work on that. He said it would be nice to have the officers to delegate work.
City Manager Sean Rabe said the budget anticipates losing the ACCNET funding. Mayor Tim Murphy said the city should consider withdrawing from ACCNET and “use this person to beef up coverage,” and help the police department and the chief. Murphy said they would not have all of the program’s funding, and he would like to notify the Amador County Sheriff’s Office that they might have to pull out the city’s funds.
Rabe said “frankly, I think you are right.” Murphy said they need to talk to the chief about it. Klier said two years ago, the ACCNET program had funding for two city officers. He said if no money comes into the program, it had money to fund the officers for two weeks in July before funds ran out.
Klier said there was a possibility that there could be a $50,000 chunk in the last quarter of this fiscal year that could fund the first quarter of 2011-2012, “and keep those two officers there.” He said the contract for the Jackson Police officer has one more year, and the Sutter Creek officer would be released July 1st.
The Chief said “the two biggest cases this year have fallen on my shift and I would love to be an administrative shift worker who could delegate.”
Klier said the May incident log included 484 service calls, including 74 calls from citizens, and 410 initiated by officers. There were 97 vehicle stops, and 28 citations issued. He said 19 arrests were made, including 4 felonies.
Two burglaries and eight thefts were reported, and investigators looked at two incidents involving drugs or narcotics, and one report of child abuse.
Klier said as a result of accepting a grant from the Jackson Rancheria, he will be ordering a new vehicle and equipment very soon.
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