As previously reported, a proposal for a 28E agreement exists which would have the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office providing law enforcement to the City of Guthrie Center. The four-year contract would cost the city approximately $197,000/year and would provide the Sheriff’s Office with two additional deputies, two leased vehicles and all of the associated equipment. The deal would save Guthrie Center taxpayers approximately $40,000/year while adding no additional financial burden on County taxpayers.
The City Council and Sheriff’s Office are in support of the deal. The Supervisors remain skeptical. Sheriff Marty Arganbright brought two of his colleagues, Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard and Cass County Sheriff Darby McLaren, to talk to the supervisors about how well similar 28E agreements work in their jurisdictions. Sheriff Leonard says his Office is contracted to cover both Dexter and Redfield. He believes the 28E agreement provides a benefit to both communities, as well as to his Office. Sheriff McLaren echoed Leonard’s sentiments and says he has no idea why the Guthrie Supervisors wouldn’t be in favor of the 28E agreement. He says the Cass County Sheriff’s Office has a very good experience serving both Anita and Griswold via a 28E agreement. “It’s a cost saving for the cities. That’s the number one thing for them. A lot of smaller cities are seeing their businesses and therefore their tax base go down. They don’t have the tax base to support a local police department. The win for the Sheriff’s Office is, with more manpower, they can double up coverage, they can have backup, the officers feel safer, they can get more specialized training. It just allows the Sheriff’s Office so much more flexibility.”
Board Chairman Tom Rutledge says the meeting with the other sheriffs reminded him that many of Iowa’s counties deal with the same issues. “It makes you think about different things. Realize that we’re not the only ones dealing with this, in the counties we’re in.”
Sheriff Marty Arganbright says he was glad to have the expert help of his two colleagues. “I have no 28E agreements in this county. They could answer questions from the Supervisors better than I could. I have some idea about 28E agreements, but I was glad that they came, because we had some questions that were answered. It went well.”
The Guthrie Center City Council has voted unanimously to send a preliminary version of the 28E agreement to their City Attorney, it will then be signed by Mayor Denny Kunkle and forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for review.