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Council questions sheriff contract and explores options for code enforcement
Summary
At the June 5 workshop, council members flagged the sheriff contract as a major expense and discussed limits of deputies’ role in code enforcement, alternatives such as administrative citations or hiring a civilian investigator, and the small amount of ticket revenue returned to the city.
Council members spent a portion of the June 5 meeting examining how the sheriff contract and county deputies intersect with Nowthen’s code-enforcement needs.
Members noted the sheriff contract is a major line item in the draft budget (figures in the discussion placed the cost around $527,000–$530,000). Staff explained deputies have been assisting by verifying complaints, documenting long‑running violations and talking with residents, but that law‑enforcement agencies do not typically give outside civilians access to their records systems, which limits alternatives that rely on non‑deputy staff.
Options discussed included administrative citations (used by some nearby cities) and referring cases to the prosecutor; several council members expressed reluctance to rely on civil attorneys because of cost. The council also asked staff to explore the cost of hiring a civilian investigator to handle investigative tasks that do not require law‑enforcement system access, recognizing that investigators would not have the same access to police databases.
Staff said the city receives only a small portion of fine revenue from tickets and that the current sheriff contract amount does not vary by the contract’s call volume. Council asked staff to prepare cost comparisons and procurement options (including whether neighboring cities would bid for contract policing) for the July budget sessions.
Next steps: staff will return cost alternatives and legal pathways for code enforcement, including the feasibility of administrative citations, prosecutor referral, or hiring civilian support. No changes to the sheriff contract were made at the June 5 workshop.
