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By Sam Hosler
Mayor, Town of Kearny
The Town of Kearny has scheduled a Council Work Session for today, Wednesday, September 30, at 9 a.m. at Town Hall. The subject of the work session is the possibility of working in tandem with the towns of Hayden, Mammoth, and Winkelman to develop regional police services.
A special meeting of Town Council will happen tonight, September 30, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall to consider expressing our interest in developing such a proposal, along with other agenda items. A full agenda is posted at the Post Office in Kearny.
A work session is an opportunity for Council members to fully explore items it might wish to consider. At this session, Department of Public Safety Sergeant Dave Blue (our Interim Chief of Police) will outline the rough proposal of police services and work with the Council members as they explore the ins and outs of such an arrangement. In its simplest form, the towns would enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to develop a proposal, which would include a board chosen by the towns to administer the program, a single Chief of Police for the area, and officers stationed in all the towns. All costs would be shared by the towns.
Also at the work session will be Mr. Ken Strobeck, Director of The Arizona League of Cities and Towns. He is offering the league’s assistance in developing the proposal, including the involvement of all the citizens of the towns.
The work session in the morning is open to the public, who may come to hear the proceedings and become better informed.
The special meeting of Town Council at 6 p.m. will include the possibility of saying “yes” to developing a tentative proposal.
The concept of the proposal originated with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, through Major Orose of the department. The concept has now been presented to all the towns possibly involved. It is very much a work in progress. The DPS is offering to work with us for as long as it takes to bring about a workable proposal.
This is a complicated thing to do. Nothing of this extent has been attempted in Arizona, and several towns and cities will be monitoring our progress to see if something of this sort could be beneficial to them.
I personally favor exploring the possibility. Our town finances make it very difficult to hire and keep trained personnel, to provide adequate training and supervision, maintain equipment and records, and provide good working conditions. I also have many questions which need to be answered regarding accountability, finances, and citizen involvement. I suspect that a successful proposal will take a year or more to develop and, if approved by the towns, be implemented.
Please stay informed and let me know your thoughts as we consider this major change.
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