Friday, December 5, 2008

Future of Ketchum cops up for grabs

Sun Valley mayor calls merger idea


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Ketchum Police Sgt. Forrest Danilson patrols the city on Wednesday morning. City officials are considering different options for replacing Danilson’s former boss, Cory Lyman, who stepped down as chief of police in October. Photo by David N. Seelig

Ketchum city leaders are looking at all the options for the future of the city's police department.

At a private meeting on Monday, Ketchum officials created an outline of a process that could resolve a vacancy at the head of the Police Department by the start of the new year. The executive session meeting was closed to the public.

Mayor Randy Hall said questionnaires that were mailed to residents have been returned and are being used to develop a profile of the ideal candidate. A citizens advisory panel will be assembled to help provide input on the different options available to the city.

The four options now under consideration are promoting Interim Police Chief Mike McNeil to the position full-time; looking outside of the department for a new chief; contracting with the Blaine County Sheriff's Office or merging with the Sun Valley Police Department.

That last option was introduced by Sun Valley Councilman Dave Chase last month, who recommended it as a means of saving money.

"From purely an economic outlook, consolidation makes sense, not only for the police, but other departments as well," Councilman Charles Conn said Thursday. "There are a lot of duplicated services in the valley."

Councilman Baird Gourlay said the contract for service between Bellevue and the Sheriff's Office presents an interesting model, but that a significant amount of research remains before a decision can be made.

"There hopefully can be a way to reduce overhead without reducing jobs," Gourlay said. "But no matter what, it's all about the health and safety of our residents."

Council members Curtis Kemp and Larry Helzel said the process is under the purview of the mayor and city administrator, and that the council's function is to make sure that whatever path Hall and City Administrator Gary Marks choose to follow is in the public interest.

"It is Ketchum Council's job to make sure that the needs of our citizens are properly served first," Helzel stated in an e-mail. "We cannot only look at budget, we need to provide the level of service to our citizens that they need and expect."

The discussion of a merger between the police departments of Ketchum and Sun Valley has spurred informal discussions about the potential merging of the two cities in general.

Gourlay said that's an issue that's brought up every few years, but has yet to gain any traction. However, he said, the state of the economy could change that.

"It's all about saving money for both cities," Gourlay said. "In a perfect world it would make sense."

However, he said the details involved in such a merger could complicate it. For example, he said, the desire of Sun Valley residents to maintain their representation in a combined government could require innovative election procedures.

As well, there would be the obvious concern about the future status of current employees for both cities.

"The constituents are different to an extent, but we all have similar concerns," Gourlay said. "A merger would have to come out of Sun Valley and can't be perceived as a Ketchum land grab."

And while Chase has said such a merger could open up revenue streams for other important uses, especially increased marketing in a down economy, Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich sits firmly on the other side of the fence.

Willich said Thursday that one of his major objections to merging the two cities is that it would likely end up costing his taxpayers more.

"Like the former CEO of GE, Jack Welch, said, 'Show me the numbers,'" Willich said. "This is not about 'fiefdoms,' but keeping autonomous teams that do their jobs very well rather than mashing them together vertically."

Willich said that until some significant and concrete savings can be calculated as a result of a merger, it simply remains a "half-baked" idea.




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