Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pierce County Council approves interlocal agreement with Orting for specialized law enforcement services
Summary
The Pierce County Council voted 5-0 to authorize an interlocal agreement giving the county executive authority to provide and bill for specialized law enforcement services to the city of Orting, including SWAT; the agreement allows annual cost negotiation and auto-renews through 2029.
The Pierce County Council on a unanimous 5-0 vote on March 2025 authorized the county executive to execute an interlocal agreement with the city of Orting to provide specialized law enforcement services, including special weapons and tactics (SWAT). The council approved Resolution R2025-102 during its regular meeting.
The interlocal agreement, which the clerk said has a commencement date of Nov. 1, 2024, establishes the rights, duties and response protocols for each party and allows the sheriff's department to negotiate updated costs with Orting annually. Andrea Kelly, council staff, told the council the agreement includes an automatic renewal provision with extensions allowed through Dec. 31, 2029.
Kelly said Exhibit A lists the specialized services Orting chose and that Orting selected billing on a per-incident basis for SWAT. Exhibit B contains mobilization criteria, command authority, demobilization authority, media interaction protocols, processes for conclusion of investigations, community liaison expectations and communications protocols for each service.
Council member Murrell pressed staff on whether jurisdictions may "pick and choose" which services to procure and on how billing options work. Kelly answered that jurisdictions can select services such as major crimes detectives, major crimes forensics, internal affairs investigations, SWAT, hazardous devices (bomb squad), marine services and air operations, and choose billing bases including hourly, per capita or per incident.
Kelly gave a concrete example: a single SWAT incident can be billed at just under $17,000 under a per-incident model, which led some smaller jurisdictions to prefer per-capita billing to spread costs over time.
The resolution had been requested by the Pierce County Sheriff's Department and received a "do pass" recommendation at a February committee. No public comments were offered at the hearing. Clerk roll-call on final passage recorded aye votes from Council members Ayala, Yambe, Kuver, Murrell and Hitchin.
The measure gives the executive authority to sign the finalized interlocal agreement with Orting; the agreement’s terms allow the sheriff and the city to negotiate costs annually rather than returning to the council for minor price updates.
Looking ahead, Andrea Kelly said the sheriff's office expects to return with a new set of interlocal agreements in 2029 per the document’s renewal language.
