Silver Lake looks to county for police/attorney services
Staffing changes in the police department and at the Gavin, Donley and Ostlund Law Firm have the city looking at other options for police and city attorney services. The Silver Lake City Council discussed its options at a workshop held on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
The purpose of the workshop was to have further discussions of larger items from the previous council meeting. No formal action can be taken at a workshop.
The resignation of full-time police officer Kyle Jorgensen in December led the city council to look at the possibility of contracting law enforcement services with the McLeod County Sheriff’s Office.
The estimated cost for 80 hours per week of officer coverage from the sheriff’s office would be $230,685.12 in 2019, increasing each year to an estimated $241,581.06 in 2021. The cost would not include any legal fees and the city would lose any revenue or reimbursements it would receive.
The police department has $224,301 budgeted for 2019 before an estimated $39,700 in revenues. Attorney fees are estimated at $25,000 in either scenario.
The Silver Lake Police Department currently is staffed 80 hours per week with one officer always on-call.
(For the complete story, see the Feb. 13 print edition of The Chronicle.)