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Gold Hill police coffers run dry Fund transfer would allow city to pay sheriff�s contract By Buffy Pollock GOLD HILL � The City Council will vote early next month on whether to transfer $10,000 from the contingency fund to pay for the remainder of the city�s law enforcement contract. The city learned earlier this month that the public safety fund was out of money and that an expected federal grant would not be coming. The developments were the latest in a series of problems associated with law enforcement for Gold Hill � which disbanded its own police department in September, after a series of personnel and liability issues, and has been under contract since with the Jackson County Sheriff�s Department. The contingency fund transfer would pay for the remaining seven months of the current contract. The standing bill for November, $785, can be only partially paid unless the transfer is approved at the council meeting Jan. 8. At a meeting with council members last week, Sheriff Bob Kennedy said that, because of staffing shortages in his department, Gold Hill would receive reduced coverage should the contract cease to exist. "We�d still have to respond in some fashion," Kennedy said, "but we�d handle more calls by phone. We�d only come out here for (matters of) life or death." The sheriff said it was not cost-effective for deputies to drive "one hour to and from Gold Hill for a 15-minute call," especially while operating under a personnel shortage. Gold Hill is charged $61 an hour for service provided by the Sheriff�s Department. Some council members said at the meeting Wednesday that they felt the cost was too high, but Kennedy said the city was getting "three to four times what it�s paying for." He said the department was providing, cost-free, such services as drug-resistance classes, serving legal papers and jail expenses, while billing Gold Hill only for actual service calls and time spent on patrol. "I�m just interested in having quality law enforcement out here for these folks," Kennedy said. "We�re not making money off this." During the two-hour session, council members discussed the value to the city of the contract, and whether Gold Hill should investigate contracting with a neighboring city�s police department or becoming part of the county service district. Kennedy told the council that he felt the current contract was "the cleanest solution" to the city�s situation, a view shared by council member Donna Silva. "We need something solid and long term," Silva said, saying the sheriff�s department contract offered "professional law enforcement without liability issues." The city�s financial situation came to a head earlier this month, according to city recorder Tony Paxton, when it was determined that the public safety fund was depleted with seven months remaining on the contract. In addition, the city had been informed by mail to "withdraw its claim" on a $114,000 COPS grant dispensed by the Department of Justice. That money was to be used to pay for one and a half positions on the now-extinct city police department. Paxton told the council that the funds could have been used to pay for a contract with outside law enforcement � but that provision had not been requested in the original application, and the city would have had to reapply for the funds. Paxton said the money from the contingency fund would "buy the council some time until they could figure something out" for further coverage. He also suggested including a survey in February's electric bill asking for citizen input and asked council members to bring a list of possible questions to the Jan. 8 meeting. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.