Canby council approves on-call contract with Yellow Medicine County for overnight police backup

The Canby City Council voted Sept. 3 to approve a contract with the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Department to provide on-call law enforcement when no Canby officer is available.

City staff described the arrangement as emergency, off-duty coverage when Canby lacks an on-duty police officer. Under the contract, calls received between 3:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. will be billed at $75 per deputy hour, with a three-hour minimum call-out to conform with Yellow Medicine County’s collective bargaining agreement. For calls during regular staffed hours, the county will charge $50 per deputy hour; the first hour spent per deputy will not be charged to the city. The contract specifies that travel time to and from Canby will not be billed. The council approved the contract to take effect Sept. 23, 2024.

The motion to approve the contract was moved by Denise Hanson and seconded by Diana Fliss. The vote was unanimous: Mayor Nancy Bormann and council members Marisa Kack, Susan Cram, Diana Fliss and Denise Hanson voted in favor.

City officials noted that Yellow Medicine County does not provide 24-hour patrol coverage for Canby; the contract anticipates deputies may need to be called from off duty to respond, triggering the county’s minimum call-out pay provisions. The agreement allocates costs to the city for the deputy’s time spent responding and performing follow-up outside of regular staffing hours, as described above.

Council members did not propose amendments to the contract during the meeting. The contract approval is a procedural action establishing the city’s mechanism to obtain emergency law-enforcement response during staffing gaps; staff will implement the contract beginning Sept. 23 unless additional follow-up is requested at a subsequent meeting.