By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
At its Dec. 2 meeting, the City of Elkhorn Common Council voted 5-0 in favor of extending an agreement between the city and Walworth County for law enforcement services through April 30.
The council had previously approved an agreement between the city and county on September 3 with an initial termination date of Nov. 30, later approving an updated agreement with a Dec. 31 termination date at its Sept. 19 meeting.
Following a motion to approve at the Dec. 2 meeting by Alderman Gary Lee Payson Jr., seconded by Alderman Kurt Harkness, Alderman Scott McClory asked about the April 30 termination date and whether the council should consider some kind of clause that would allow the contract to continue in the event City of Elkhorn Police Department staffing needs aren’t met by that date.
Elkhorn Police Department Sergeant Daniel Croak said the department has one new officer coming off of field training at the end of January, and the two officers starting field training this month are anticipated to be on solo patrol by April.
“So, between now and April we could have three more on the street,” he said.
Croak said his guidance from Police Chief Joel Christensen was for the contract to be extended an additional four months and that the belief is once the three additional officers are on solo patrol duty it will be adequate for police department coverage.
The motion to approve was passed 5-0 by the council; Alderman Ron Dunwiddie was absent from the meeting.
Background
While little details of the previous contract were discussed in open session, Christensen’s memo in the Sept. 3 council packet explained the department’s need for potential short-term staffing.
At that time, Christensen said one member of the department had resigned in August to accept a position with the Sheriff’s Office and another was in the final stages of the selection process with the agency.
With a third member on an extended FMLA leave of absence and the department’s three new members in academy training, he said the department’s staffing levels would be insufficient to meet service demands.
He also noted that following the 720 hours of academy training the new probationary officers then need to participate in about 16 weeks of field training before they are able to begin patrolling on their own, meaning that the earliest the department expected to have the full capabilities of any of the new members was February, and the end of April for the latter two.
Any new hires would not be able to start the academy until January, meaning they would not be able to start solo patrol duties until the end of September 2025, according to Christensen.
Christensen’s memo said the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office was willing to assist by providing limited patrol services at a cost of $701 daily per shift for each deputy assigned to the city for patrol activities.
According to the memo, if the sheriff’s office provided one deputy every day, the monthly cost would be $21, 731. The memo also noted the department was estimated to be under budget by $96,353.41, and it could absorb the cost as a result of the vacancies, as the city would have savings from those vacancies and not paying the city’s patrol officers to cover the shifts that would be covered by the sheriff’s office.
Christensen’s memo also noted this would ensure law enforcement services to the community while not sacrificing the quality of certain activities like investigations, and it would also lessen the burden on current members and the fatigue that would be caused by working additional hours, switching shifts and a higher workload, for example.
