Sumner and Bonney Lake negotiate three‑year interlocal for municipal court services; community court stays grant‑dependent

Sumner city staff presented a negotiated interlocal agreement with the City of Bonney Lake for municipal court services (Resolution No. 1726) during the July 14 study session. Staff said the proposed agreement sets a three‑year initial term, automatically renewable, with an 18‑month termination notice and a cost allocation based on courtroom usage rather than case count.

Andrea, the presenting staff member, said Bonney Lake has provided court services to Sumner since 2015 after Sumner closed its in‑city court. "Bonney Lake has been providing municipal court services to the city of Sumner since 2015," she said, and Bonney Lake served Sumner with a notice of termination on Dec. 30 of last year, prompting renegotiation.

Why this matters: The agreement affects court processing, staffing and Sumner's budget. Staff estimated a net budget increase for Sumner of about $43,000 in 2026 under the new cost allocation and separate probation charges, and warned that community court is currently fully grant funded and may end if grant funding stops.

Key provisions and costs - Cost allocation: The proposed agreement assigns Sumner 30% of courtroom service costs and Bonney Lake 70%, based on courtroom days used; Sumner staff said that better reflects resource use than a pure case‑count split, which had recently been roughly 50/50. - Service fee impact: Staff estimated the change will raise Sumner's annual court service costs by about $25,000 in the service fee line and, with separately billed probation and miscellaneous fees, result in an estimated $43,000 annual increase to Sumner's budget in 2026. - Probation and miscellaneous charges: Probation services will be billed separately at $600 per case (staff estimate $18,000 annually based on historical use). Miscellaneous charges (interpreters, witness fees, jury notices, trial copy costs) were estimated at about $6,500 annually. - Term and termination: The draft agreement runs three years to align with the cities' biennial budgets and increases the notice period for termination to 18 months; staff said the longer notice aims to avoid the scramble Sumner experienced after the December termination notice. - Community court: The community court program is in its second year and fully grant funded by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Staff said the program currently supports a small caseload (about five active participants after recent graduations) and that the interlocal will explicitly allow either city to discontinue community court if grant funds end.

Alternatives considered Staff described alternatives they researched and why they were not recommended now: bringing municipal court back to Sumner (estimated nearly $500,000 upfront to hire 3–3.5 FTEs and retrofit facilities), contracting with Pierce County District Court (logistical and legacy‑case transfer challenges and Department of Assigned Counsel capacity limits), or partnering with nearby cities for a regional court (financial modeling showed Sumner costs would not decline). Staff also noted examples of disputes over legacy cases when partners separate and said the draft agreement commits the parties to "negotiate in good faith" about legacy cases if Sumner ever departs.

Process and next steps Andrea and Jeff said the community court grant acceptance has passed the finance committee and is slated for the consent agenda at an upcoming council meeting. Bonney Lake will publish an RFQ for a joint judge; Sumner staff will sit on the selection panel. Staff outlined an anticipated RFQ timeline: publish in August–September, interview October–November, with a new full‑time joint judge expected to start Jan. 1.

No formal vote on the interlocal took place at the study session; staff said the interlocal and related grant acceptance will move through the finance committee and appear on the council consent calendar for formal action.

Concerns raised Council members asked about the precedent and handling of legacy cases should Sumner move to a different court; staff said the draft leaves legacy‑case handling to negotiation at the time of any departure and pointed to past litigation between Bonney Lake and another partner where the agreement was silent. Staff also described a prior grant practice that temporarily supplemented salaries for community court personnel and said the current grant application does not include additional salary for judge, prosecutor or public defender positions.

Items staff flagged for future council consideration include the community court contracts (which expire at year end), the judge recruitment and any decision about continuing community court should grant funding change.