Police department to remain in city’s control, reserve officer program suspended
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RONAN — The Ronan City Council voted to keep its full-time police force and suspend its reserve officer program at its Sept. 16 meeting.
The police department had been under scrutiny since the July 16 ruling from the Montana’s Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, that effectively barred former police chief Dan Wadsworth from working as a law enforcement officer for 15 years. POST claimed Wadsworth had falsified certification information about officers, including his son, Trevor. Wadsworth has appealed the ruling.
Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin presented a proposal Sept. 9 to the council that detailed the possibility of outsourcing the police department to the county.
“I haven’t talked with anybody that said it would be a better idea to go to county,” councilman Chris Adler said. “I want to give this another go around and let somebody run it and manage it and let’s see what they can do with what we have.”
The council approved keeping its full-time police force and made plans to schedule interviews for candidates for police chief soon.
Ronan police officer Pat Noble said not outsourcing would result in more police protection in Ronan because he believed the county’s plan would call for a resident deputy that would eventually get pulled from the city limits.
“Not to put a damper on anything, but they would not really be a resident deputy,” Noble said. “With all the calls that go to Pablo, the so-called ‘resident deputy’ here would be down there pretty much all the time.”
Noble said officers might go to a major event outside of town if necessary, but they only stay there until sheriff’s deputies can arrive.
“With a deputy, once they get that call, they are the primary on that call,” Noble said.
The reserve officer program, which had four or five active participants, according to Mayor Kim Aipperspach, was terminated with the intent to revive the program later.
The immediate priority of restructuring the department is finding a chief, Aipperspach said.
“We’re going to work on the chief for right now,” he said. “And who knows once we get the budget done, we have some applications for officers, but we might not have enough money for officers.”
The council was unable to finalize a budget at the meeting because the materials were not ready, according to clerk Kaylene Melton.
Melton made suggestions about how to transfer financial responsibility for the Ronan Library from the city to the newly formed Ronan City Library District. The district will receive its first tax revenue in December since its formation. The library has been floating on city money during this time, and asked the council for funding in the form of a loan for the rest of the year.
Melton said the city’s auditor suggested the library seek a loan from the Montana Board of Investments. She said the city has already paid more than $18,000 since July to the library, almost as much as the $20,000 spent on library services for the last fiscal year.
“We are already up to what we usually budget them for the entire year,” Melton said. Librarian Michelle Fenger clarified in an interview after the meeting that the library has multiple other sources of funding, including grants.
The library also has an approximate $7,000 deficit, Melton said.
The council told Melton to plan to budget approximately $9,100 of what is usually allotted for the library.
“No one else gets to have a whole year budget for six months,” councilman Cal Hardy said.
Hardy said the council had to draw a line somewhere for how much could be spent. The council suggested its budget committee meet with the library budget committee to set an absolute limit for the library to spend.
“Once you pick a number, unfortunately, it sounds mean, but if you got to that number seven days before they got their tax money or loan money in, you might lock the door for a week,” Aipperspach said.
In other business, public works director Dan Miller updated the council on the proposed highway 93 expansion and bicycle trail.
“(The state) fears there (are) too many impacts to the school through here and potential impacts to the park,” Miller said. “Where it sits is that they need to talk to the Feds … I don’t think we’re at a decision point.”
Aipperspach voiced some concerns with the state’s plan for the bicycle trail.
“They are putting it out there with the high speed traffic,” Aipperspach said. “That’s not safe at all.”
Miller said he would continue to update council on the ongoing situation.
The council also was updated by Melton on the balance of payments due to the Ronan Fire Relief Association.
Melton said the city was up to date by her calculations except for a small $23 difference caused by a rounding problem with the computer program the city uses.
“There’s nothing we can do about that, other than I will be more diligent to look back and review the individual dates,” Melton said.
The council directed Melton to pay the $23 difference the rounding error made. Melton said she would issue checks monthly to improve the process, also.
The next Ronan city council meeting will be held Oct. 14.
