At the Box Butte County Commissioners meeting on Monday, representatives from the Village of Hemingford and the Box Butte County Sheriff’s Office discussed the possibility of providing police services to the community.
Village Board of Trustees Chairman John Annen spoke at the meeting, noting that there had been similar discussions in the past. He explained that the contract is close to being settled.
“We’ve looked into this several times, and we’ve gotten really close,” Annen said. “For some reason or other, we didn’t pull the trigger on it. I really believe this is a good thing for Hemingford, and I hope it’s a good thing for the Sheriff’s Office, too. I think it will be beneficial for both.”
County Attorney Terry Curtiss explained that the Sheriff’s Office developed an estimate for adding a deputy to meet the request for service in Hemingford.
“They’ve asked for six days a week,” said Curtiss. “Sunday will be a day with what I would call minimal coverage. Eight hours a day, that’s the target to make sure the needs are addressed.”
Curtiss explained that there would also be costs to equip a deputy. Curtiss noted that further discussion is needed.
“It’s time to move forward, we’re just at the fine tuning stage,” Curtiss said. “There are the questions of how do we handle the up-front costs, and then the other issue is what’s listed on the memorandum about what the costs will be in way of an allocation. The village’s proposal right now is to pay for up-front costs over time as an increase in monthly payment for services. Essentially, the monthly payment for right now is structured to cover the variable cost of staffing.”
Another approach to take, Curtiss said, would be to pay off the up-front costs with the equipment they currently have for their officers, such as a patrol vehicle, which would remain the county’s equipment if the Village of Hemingford decided to return to having its own police force.
“I suggest this is mutually beneficial, because, if the village does not have a law enforcement presence, then the Sheriff’s Department is the fall-back,” said Curtiss. “They’re going to be dealing with it. The question is compensation for the level of service they desire. That’s what we’re tuning on. I think conceptually, you’re all in agreement this is a process you want to finalize and get going.”
Annen agreed with Curtiss, noting that one of the other areas to address is providing reports to the village. Deputy JD Sutphen explained that they could provide a report of calls for service and traffic stops easily.
Commissioner Steve Burke asked if the eight hours of service per day would be a set time each day, or if it would be split up. Box Butte County Sheriff Tammy Mowry, and Sutphen said they would plan on splitting up the hours to cover traffic during the school year and various events to be as visible as possible.
Annen showed appreciation for the work of the Sheriff’s Office, noting that they have all worked hard to provide service in Hemingford.
“It’s just a matter of feeling comfortable, for both entities, to make sure that this works okay,” said Annen. “The Board of the Village, we’re pretty easy to get along with.”
Mowry said a target date for implementing the contract would be April 1.
Barb Straub, Village Clerk, explained that this is a long-term plan to provide coverage for Hemingford. She said they have had difficulty hiring officers in the past.
“We’ve been relying on part-time help from the county when the guys were off duty,” said Straub. “Our Chief Dusty Bryner was out on medical, and we needed to rely on them a little more heavily in order to alleviate some of the stress level. We felt this was a better way to go. It was mostly just to alleviate some stress and to make sure the village had proper police coverage.”