Mount Pleasant discusses interlocal police agreement with Fairview, plans 24/7 coverage and governance details

Mount Pleasant council members and staff reviewed a draft interlocal agreement to form a joint police service with Fairview that would provide continuous coverage and assign officers across participating cities.

A staff presenter summarized the plan and said it “will allow us to go 24 hours a day, 7 days a week coverage. It's gonna allow us for most of the time to have 2 officers out at the time. There will be a little bit of period where there'll only be 1. And we'll eliminate on call for the officers.” The presenter said the agreement would remove on-call requirements and move to scheduled coverage.

The agreement draft included a provision that the police chief would assign a citizen member to the governing board; the presenter and others said that should be changed so the board — not the chief — appoints citizen board members. The presenter said, “We'll change that. The board needs to assign the citizen.”

Councilors and staff discussed governance and funding. The presenter said each city’s financial contribution should be defined in future fiscal planning and suggested using population or a per-capita metric to determine buy‑in and representation: “What are we getting out of how much we're putting in?... If one of the towns gets a sudden operation burst… we’re gonna have to get another officer.” The discussion also noted that a city contributing more funding or serving more residents could receive greater representation on the board or increased coverage.

School funding for a school resource officer was addressed: the presenter said the budget sent to council included $70,000 that the school district had committed, which “will allow our officer to go full time in the schools.” The presenter said the primary school priority would be the high school but that the officer could cover other schools and that patrol officers would respond to school calls when the school officer was occupied.

Personnel policies and benefits differences came up as items to harmonize in the interlocal arrangement. The presenter noted differences between Mount Pleasant and Fairview leave policies: Mount Pleasant’s sick-leave accrual can reach 960 hours and sick leave is not paid out at separation, while vacation carryover is limited (the presenter cited a 120-hour carryover cap). The presenter said benefits and pay would be adjusted over time with the aim of narrowing differences across participating cities.

Other administrative details flagged for later work included a blank schedule for transferred assets (Schedule 2), which staff said must list contributed assets and their values so they could be returned if the arrangement ends, and insurance and naming the new entity. A draft name appeared in the document as a placeholder; staff said a formal name and insurance enrollment would need to be finalized quickly.

No formal motion or vote on the interlocal agreement was recorded in the transcript of the work session. Councilors and staff repeatedly noted that the initial year would focus on standing up the joint department, documenting assets and policies, and delaying any immediate expansion of membership until operations were established.

The council asked staff to return with clarified schedules, a finalized board-appointment process that prevents unilateral appointment by the chief, and proposed funding metrics for future fiscal years.