By Michael Howell
A motion at last week’s Stevensville Town Council meeting to direct the Mayor to seek information regarding contracting with the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services for the town was soundly defeated on a 4 to 0 vote.
Most of the people filling the room were there concerning the issue and it was quickly moved from the last item on the night’s agenda to the first. Most of the public comment was critical of the very idea of abolishing the Stevensville Police Department and, in the end, the sponsor of the agenda item and the councilperson who made the motion and did his best to speak in favor of it, Bob Michalson, voted against it.
Michalson said it was not meant as a criticism of the police department or its performance, it was simply a budget question. He said that Police Chief James Marble’s recent request for another officer and a clerk got him to thinking about the cost of law enforcement and what the town could really afford.
According to Michalson, the Police Department represents 36% of the town’s general fund budget. If you add the related court expenses, which amounts to about 6% of the general fund budget, you get a total of 42% of the general fund budget going to law enforcement. He pointed out that for three out of the last four fiscal years, the police department expenses have been over budget and that actual expenses are always rising.
Michalson pointed out that over the last four years, the actual expenses of the police department rose steadily from $175,673 in FY 2013-2014, to $188,783 in FY 2014-2015, to $189,993 in FY 2015-2016, and this fiscal year it has already reached $245,167.
“Maybe it’s time to look at another option,” he said. “All I asked is that the Mayor go to the Sheriff’s Office, have a little pow wow and see what could be done. I’m not saying that the services are bad, but the budget keeps going up.”
Councilor Stacie Barker suggested that the council members needed to do a little research themselves and not just get the mayor to do it.
Councilor Robin Holcomb agreed, saying, “I think we need to look into it a bit deeper and maybe table it ‘til after the election.”
In response to that remark, Mayor Crews said, “In regard to the election, government doesn’t stop. We need to keep going.”
Former mayor Pat Groninger said that “protecting people supersedes all the rest.” He said the council was responsible for all the under-budgeting. He said the Sheriff’s Office would not give the kind of service that the Police Department does and would most probably cost a lot more.
“You’re here for the people of Stevensville,” said Groninger. “Don’t take away their protection.”
Stevensville Police Chief James Marble called it “a fact finding mission” that needed to be done but urged the council to send a single person and not just have all the councilors looking into it. He said that would lead to confusion and take too much time to thresh out.
“I’m for finding out what you need to know,” said Marble. “I’m for getting the information.”
Stevensville School District Superintendent Dr. Bob Moore spoke about the importance of the School Resource Officer position. He said the Police Department has been providing exceptional service to the school. He also pointed out that newcomers to the community are always interested in whether the community has local law enforcement or not.
Chris Soto said that the problem wasn’t one of law enforcement, it was a budgeting problem.
John Leonard, a police officer for 30 years, said that he chose to move to Stevensville because of the local police department and the School Resource Officer they provide. He warned that communities that have gotten rid of local law enforcement have regretted it.
Sean Lenahan said that studies have shown that if you remove local law enforcement violent crime spikes over a long period of time. He said if they really looked into it, they would discover that “keeping the police department will be a very obvious answer.”
Stevensville School Resource Officer Sam Fawcett said that being under budgeted and understaffed actually leads to greater expenses because the officers still respond but get paid overtime. He said over the last year from August to August the local police responded to 1,002 calls and the Sheriff’s Office responded to 679 in the town.
Fawcett said that the response by the local police was for the most part faster than any sheriff’s officer could respond. He said without local law enforcement they would lose the ability to enforce town ordinances and lose the quick response time that they do have.
Chief Marble said that he did not believe it was proper for him to be involved in collecting the information, but he would be glad to give guidance on where to go for such information.
Following that comment a vote was taken and the motion to direct the mayor to seek the information was defeated on a 4 to 0 vote.
In other business, the council approved the placement of a memorial stone on the bikepath to the river. The request was made by Jo Winfrey who wanted to memorialize her son, Stephen Hilburn, who committed suicide. She just biked a hundred miles in her son’s memory and the bikepath seemed like a fitting place for a memorial to him, she said.
The council also approved a Department of Commerce Montana Main Street grant application and project grant funding to produce a market analysis of the Stevensville area and develop a master plan for longterm economic development which would include a site plan for River Park. Main Street Association Director Lorraine Roach told the council that the town limits currently have a population of 1,900, but the local market area within the Stevensville zip code is over 10,000.
“Town residents are only 20% of the local market,” she said.
Last year 88 new homes were constructed in the Stevensville zip code area and over 100 homes were sold in the first quarter this year.
“We have a lot of potential for growth,” said Roach, “but at the same time Selway Corporation, a $6.5 million per year business with a $10 million impact locally, is going out of business.”
By putting up $5,000 from the town’s Economic Development Fund, Roach said they could get an additional $15,000 from the Montana Main Street program and those funds could then be leveraged for additional funds from other funding sources such as the Economic Development Agency or USDA Rural Development. She said it was an opportunity to follow up on the Growth Policy and move forward with some specific actions.
She said the market analysis and master plan would give local businesses and town officials a picture of what kind of dollars are coming into and flowing out of the town’s market area. The more they know about the market area the better the decisions they can make about product development or expansion potential. The better the businesses and commercial interests do, the better the tax base does, as commercial taxes provide a significantly greater revenue to the town than do residential taxes.
The council also passed a resolution accepting the 1.52 acres of county property along the river next to the Stevensville bridge. The town is considering the site for a permanent fishing access site with a boat launch.