Ketchum City officials listened to a presentation behind closed doors from Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling on a potential contract for service that would transfer management of the city's law enforcement to the Sheriff's Office.
Femling met with the Ketchum City Council during an executive session, which was closed to press and public, on Monday evening.
Femling was not available for comment Tuesday.
Councilman Baird Gourlay said Femling's proposal calls for retaining all current Ketchum police officers. No details were given as to the capacity in which the officers would be retained or if their salaries would change.
Ketchum has nine police officers, with three open positions. The city is also operating under an interim police chief since the resignation of Cory Lyman in October.
Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall said a contract with the Blaine County Sheriff's Office is one option being considered to resolve a vacancy at the head of the Police Department.
Femling is tentatively scheduled to return to the city on Tuesday, Feb. 17, to make a public presentation, Hall said.
Other options discussed previously have been the promotion of Interim Police Chief Mike McNeil to the position full-time, looking outside of the department for a new chief, or merging with the Sun Valley Police Department. This last option has not been discussed by officials from the two cities.
"One of the most important issues is the jobs of our officers," Hall said at the council meeting, which was attended by several members of the Ketchum Police Department, both on- and off-duty.
"We don't have a price yet, but we're getting close to a bedrock number," Hall said of the overall cost of the proposed contract.
Ketchum City Administrator Gary Marks said the city had yet to go over all of the details of the proposal.
"There are some soft spots we still need to look at," Marks said.
"Our schedule for making a decision depends on the public testimony we receive," Hall said. "We understand that the Ketchum Police Department is shorthanded and we want to make a decision as soon as possible. At the end of the day, it's all about the level of service."
The department has been without a full-time chief for four months and has had two detective positions vacant since last spring. During an interview last week, Marks said the vacancies have led to over $200,000 in savings for the city this fiscal year.
Marks said that with a potential $600,000 decline in anticipated revenues for the 2009 fiscal year, Ketchum is looking for ways to reduce expenses, and that a contract for law enforcement could be one solution.
When contacted by the Idaho Mountain Express, officers from police departments throughout the Wood River Valley declined to comment on such a contract for service due to the sensitive nature of the issue.
There is precedent for a contract for service with the Sheriff's Office in the Wood River Valley. Bellevue entered into an agreement in November 2007.
The situation in Bellevue was different from that in Ketchum; Bellevue had only one officer in its Marshal's Office when the change took place. During the contract negotiations, Femling said the cost of providing law enforcement to the city would remain about the same as Bellevue's original budget for its Marshal's Office.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
Walt Femling
