Sheriff suggests city, county jail pact

City and county representatives may join forces to hammer out a potential contract between the two entities on use of the county jail.
    The contract idea was floated last week by County Sheriff Kevin Mueller as he spoke at the commissioners’ Jan. 22 meeting.
    He believes it could help both sides if there is an understanding on what’s expected of both departments in the jailing process, which the sheriff’s office directs.
    After about 45 minutes of discussion, newly-seated commissioner Jacci Brown offered to be the county’s representative.
    Imperial council member Chad Yaw was at the meeting, saying he’d inform Mayor Dwight Coleman, who’d be the one to appoint the city rep(s) for discussing contract details.

No cost proposed, for now
    On a question if a fee to the city was planned with a future contract, Mueller said that would be up to the commissioners.
    After he was asked if he personally supported charging a fee to the city, Mueller responded, “First I want to negotiate and try to work out these issues.
    “At some point, yeah, I think we’d have to address whether the county wants to charge a fee or not,” he added.
    “My main concern right now is to get these issues we have addressed and worked out.”
    Deputy Duncan Einspahr presented numbers of people brought into the jail over the past six years who were arrested and went through the booking process.
    In 2018, booking numbers by department were:
    Sheriff’s office—13
    Imperial police—19
    State Patrol—1
    From 2013-18, the six-year numbers were:
    Sheriff’s office—235
    Imperial police—220
    State Patrol—59
    Game and Parks—3
    He said the cost to operate the jail and dispatch including its full-time employees is $386,000.
    According to figures he presented, taxpayers outside the city are paying 96 percent of those operating costs, while the city of Imperial and its police department are using the jail and its dispatch about 50 percent of the time, he said.
    Einspahr said they are saving the city a lot of money for providing the dispatch services (vs. the city having its own).
    Chase County pays Lincoln County $50 a day to house prisoners that can’t be kept here, plus any medical costs that arise while jailed there, Sheriff Mueller said.

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Sheriff suggests city, county jail pact | Wauneta Breeze

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