City Dissatisfied With Law Enforcement Contract

By Gordon HopkinsThe Fairbury City Council voted to make changes to the law enforcement contract with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. However, the vote was not without dissention. Jefferson County and the City of Fairbury have been negotiating for several weeks to make changes to their law enforcement contract. Chief among those changes is allowing an increase of up to six percent each year for the next three years. The contract originally allowed for up to a three percent increase.The City Council vote was four to two, with councilpersons Kelly Davis and Bradley Kuzelka both voting against the changes. Kuzelka said, “It’s really frustrating, because this is exactly what I said was going to happen. And it happened. So, I just want to make everyone aware that this is not what we were sold. Now it’s up to this body and the sheriff, Sheriff (Nick) Georgie, to try to figure out how to make this work.” Traffic StopsTraffic control has been a high priority for the city council and was the only law enforcement activity discussed at the meeting.Davis said, “Personally gentlemen, I think we shot ourselves in the foot by getting involved in this contract with them and getting rid of our police department. I don’t think we’re getting our money’s worth the way it is and now they want more. If you watch the paper when they put the sheriff’s department’s activities in there. It’s been averaging about 1.1 traffic stops a day, county-wide. I could make more than that driving 10 blocks from my house to work. We’re not…I don’t think we’re getting what we’re paying for. The highway patrol stops more people in Fairbury than the sheriff’s department does. And most of them I could write a ticket to would be the sheriff’s department, rolling through stop signs. You know, I’m not in favor of this at all.” The sheriff’s office provides FJN with monthly activity reports. FJN reviewed the number of traffic stops performed by the sheriff’s office over a six-month period:August: 44July: 36June: 25May: 22April: 38March: 39This list is for traffic stops only and does not include other activities, such as arrests, search warrants, well-being checks, and the like.Increasing CostsJefferson County Commissioners have noted that costs for serving the city have proven to be far more expensive than originally anticipated during the original contract negotiations. Those increasing costs have been exacerbated by ongoing inflation, supply chain issues and staffing shortages.City Councilperson Doug Brown said, “I don’t really like that. But I also understand that the costs and things with inflation and the environment we’re in today is different than when we originally did the contract.”Jefferson County Commissioners had originally asked for a 10 percent increase. They have noted that, even had the 10 percent been approved, they would still be paying out far more for covering the city than the city is paying to the county.Commissioners have expressed the opinion that, had the city not shut down the police department, they would also be paying considerably more than they are now.It should be noted that, while the county was recently forced to raise the tax levy by 4.66 percent, the city was able to decrease its levy from .74 to .69 percent.Projected versus Actual CostsOn September 2, prior to his termination, City Administrator Jacob Matthews sent a letter to Commissioners and the sheriff which said, in part, “We have concerns over what weas forecasted to be spent and what was actually spent.”Commissioners met with the Sheriff on September 19 of this year. Sheriff Georgi said, “They (the City of Fairbury) don’t feel it’s their fault that the contract was lowballed when it was offered.”Commissioner Mark Schoenrock disagreed, “That’s not true. Because when the original contract was negotiated, the City of Fairbury had tree representatives there as well. We discussed all elements of the contract. So, to say that, that’s just simply not true.” City Versus CountyA review of the call activity data for a six-month period shows activity within the city is always more than double the rest of the county:August: 211 (Fairbury) - 94 (Jefferson County)July: 190 - 75June: 191 - 59May 174 - 89April 201 - 86March 68 – 170 Terminating the ContractThe contract has a one-year termination clause. Either side could end the agreement if they wished. The city is legally obligated to provide law enforcement services, either with its own policed department or by contracting with another law enforcement agency.FJN reached out to Davis after the meeting and asked if he wish to see the contract terminated and the police department reinstated. Davis said, “I wasn’t in favor of the contract to start with because we don’t have the complete package like we did with our own Police Department, meaning the Sheriff’s Department cannot enforce City Codes or Ordinances, unless they can ‘piggyback’ it with a State Statue. I would like to have our own Police Department again but I’m not sure how we would swing it. It would cost us well in excess of a million dollars to get it up and going again I’m sure. Then we would need a place to house it.” Code EnforcementOne change that was not approved at the City Council meeting is the hiring of another Code Enforcement Officer. When the original contract was implemented, the city hired a Code Enforcement Officer to deal with certain complaints outside the purview of the Sheriff’s Office, such as animal complaints or overgrown grass and junked cars parked inappropriately. While the Sherriff’s office does not officially deal with code violations, resources are still required to handle the various calls that come in after hours. Schoenrock said, “That is, I think, a pretty significant reason why it’s taken more of our sources to deal with that when the city should have been doing it. So, I think that’s a big positive step forward.” The city has agreed to a second code enforcement officer but Mayor Brown told FJN, “The (Law Enforcement) committee is going to take a recommendation to the personnel committee for consideration of another code enforcement employee. We have to follow the city process when creating a new position, we cannot just hire. Personnel will then approve or deny the request, and if it is approved, it will go to council for final approval.”

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