TOLEDO — Though Winlock canceled a Monday special meeting scheduled to discuss police service options, on the other side of Interstate 5, Toledo city councilors weighed its neighbor’s conundrum.
In a workshop following its regular council meeting, councilors reviewed the draft contract the city has offered to Winlock for police services.
Toledo’s elected officials expressed interest in helping Winlock, and perhaps eventually expanding the agreement to include other cities, if signed.
“We’re doing this as an offer to help Winlock because they’re in a bind,” Toledo Mayor Jerry Pratt said. “And this saves them money and helps them out. It helps us out, too; we get more time on the streets, but we’re not doing this because Toledo needs to do this.”
However, some officials mentioned concerns about the transition and the time it would take to hire enough officers to cover the two cities.
If Winlock signs Toledo’s contract, the police department would like to hire two officers. Twenty hours of service would be provided to Winlock and Toledo daily.
Councilor Mike Thomas said he would be against the contract if hiring the additional officers takes longer than a few months.
“If we’re going to lose our manpower for six months to a year, I’m for not doing it for Toledo,” Thomas said.
Toledo Police Chief John Brockmueller said he is hopeful that he would have officers hired within two months. The department currently has Brockmueller, one full-time officer and an active reserve officer.
During the transition period, it would be difficult to work out compensatory time off for the officers, so the council would have to figure out how to pay that time during the hiring process, City Clerk Michelle Whitten said.
She said the hiring process for officers is time consuming and includes a polygraph and psychology tests. The city has to do the tests for reserve officers as well, including those from Winlock, if they wish to continue volunteering.
Toledo is offering the contract at an annual cost of $196,000 to Winlock, which currently spends about $250,000 on its police department.
Multiple Toledo elected officials expressed interest in seeing the contract expanded if Winlock signs on to include Vader, saying it would save all of the cities money.
The councilors hope that if that happens, their officers wouldn’t have to be on call as often either.
If Winlock agrees to the contract, Toledo can then run the agreement past its attorney and insurance and also sign the agreement.
“Unfortunately, Winlock is running out of time, but until they give us an answer, we can’t move forward,” Whitten said
Winlock is also considering contracting with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office for services or hiring a new police chief and officer. The city is holding a workshop on June 8 to discuss its options.
Winlock began considering its options after its Police Chief Terry Williams announced his retirement effective June 30. The city’s one police officer took a job elsewhere, and no longer works for the city.
