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Territorial Dispatch

When will Sheriff’s Contract be Signed

Jan 23, 2024 12:29PM ● By Sharon Pearce

LIVE OAK, CA (MPG) - The Live Oak City Council spent almost two hours of its January meeting on the 17th  shaking out stumbling blocks to approving the Sutter Co. Sheriff’s Department contract. It came down to whether dissatisfied members of the Council recognized that the sheriff’s office was not going to lower its fee for service from  $880,000, which cost has only been increasing due to delays in signing off. They were reminded the answers to their questions were built into the contract.

Council began with Mayor Ashley Hernandez, attending by Zoom, informing she had been in discussion with a mayor in Willow as to the possibility of Live Oak partnering with it to create a joint police department. Councilmember Jeramy Chapdelaine commented he had been following the timeline of Willow’s police contract discussions and said their costs would run to $15 million and they know they can’t afford it. That is higher than what Live Oak could afford, said Chapdelaine, commenting on insurance costs, CalPERS, unfunded liabilities, and other costs. Comm. Santana said, “We own 55 properties free and clear and we could sell those properties and there would be no costs to residents.”

A Public Speaker who identified as 94454 said, “Every agency has its own needs. You must realize agencies have established infrastructures. If you really think you can start a police dept. from ground up in six months, you must really do due diligence to see what you need. It will take you four to six months to hire one employee, 10 months for four.  You are not going to hire officers right and left; many larger cities can afford to pay them more. If you want to do this, you should look into all the costs; don’t just look at staff costs; it is infrastructure. You are not going to have a police dept. starting from ground up in two years.”

“I think we need to focus on us, our situation, the contract,” said Chapdelaine. “Even in our agenda tonight, we should be focusing on our contract, then do a workshop as to alternatives. I have compared to six other jurisdictions, and we are still lower spending per capita in comparison.”

Commissioner Lakhvir Ghag was concerned that “this sheriff puts his information on Facebook and does not discuss it with the mayor or council first. The information they give us needs to be what a common person could understand…We need to think through what we want. There have been fireworks everywhere in the city; the 4th of July — it was crazy.” Ghag said there was a need for camera technology and drones. “They can visualize through the cameras and site where the problems are.” 

Commissioner Santana added, “That’s another reason for needing a breakdown of calls. We don’t know what crimes are going on in our city and we need the report. Are we getting gang activities? Then we can work to obtain officers to fit our needs. We have a duty to look over all that before we make a decision to hand over $880,000.” City Manager Aaron Palmer agreed the numbers the county had provided on calls to Live Oak did not add up, and he had to check on that.

Mayor Hernandez emphasized the contract was not due until June. Chapdelaine responded “…the county is also being pressed that they will have to end eating costs, and a state law says they can’t…they may have to notify us they may have to cease services.”

Commissioner Bob Woten requested it all be handled in a reasonable way but to not refuse to sign the contract for little things that are already built into the contract and can be worked on later.

Council moved on to Animal Services with Comm. Woten wanting to find out its schedule for coming to Live Oak and asking if it reports to Sutter County. Several commissioners stated that there were dead dogs all over the streets; in one case there was a dead deer on the side of the road for three months with an excuse given that it wasn’t picked up because that was another jurisdiction.

Comm. Ghag reported on the Vector Control Board going over the properties it owns and is in discussion as to whether it should purchase insurance. A warning was given that an adjacent county elections office had received an envelope in the mail thought to contain fentynal powder.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:52 pm.