Sheriff’s Office could save Norton $1.4 million/year
By Kally Mavromatis
NORTON — At a town hall meeting March 25, the residents of Norton were presented with a plan that showed contracting with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office for police protection instead of using the Norton Police Department could save the city approximately $1.4 million per year.
Norton residents heard the details at a meeting called by Norton Councilman Tom Jones (Ward 1) at the Shirley L. McGuire Community Center. Originally scheduled to be presented to Norton City Council in January, the Sheriff’s Office was “disinvited” by Council after a vote to cancel the presentation.
In rescheduling the meeting outside of Council, Jones explained he wanted “to allow the city of Norton to understand what the Sheriff’s Office can do. As an elected official, it is my duty to do what is best for the city,” and not just for his ward, he said.
Capt. Richard Roach of the Sheriff’s
Office outlined not just the cost savings but the department’s
programs, all of which would
be available to the city were City Council to approve
a standard three-year contract.
“I have nothing but respect
for Norton officers; they’re good, honest officers,”
said Roach. “They do a fine job.” In the
end, he said, it is up to Norton citizens to decide
what’s best for the city.
If the city were to contract
with the Sheriff’s Office, the Norton Police Department
would most likely be eliminated.
The savings for the city, he
said, comes from eliminating the need for administrative
overhead. The current budget for the city’s police
force is approximately $2.5 million annually. Should
the city contract with the Sheriff’s Office, the
cost would be approximately $1.5 million for 14 deputies,
who would be assigned to cover Norton exclusively.
The number of officers assigned
would be decided by the city, said Roach. “They
dictate how many officers they want,” he said.
“The sheriff charges per officer.”
Other savings would come from
consolidating fire and EMS calls through the Sheriff’s
Office’s Summit South Dispatch services. Using
figures from 2006 and calculating the cost of each call
at $50, the city would have spent $59,200 last year,
he said. Compared to the city’s budget of $161,000,
the city would have realized a savings of about $100,000.
Roach also pointed out the Sheriff’s
Office would welcome applications from the city’s
current police force.
“Certainly one of the questions
that’s on Norton’s citizens’ minds
is, ‘What happens to our police force?’”
he said. “These men and women you have now, we’d
like to see them apply to the Sheriff’s Office.
We would like to put these men back in the community.”
Another concern that Roach was
quick to address is that the officers would be coming
from Downtown Akron and would not be visible within
the community.
“These men that you know
— and women — would be stationed here,”
he said.
The current police station would
remain a functioning station, or Sheriff’s Office
outpost.
Roach also spent time outlining
the benefits of aligning with the Sheriff’s Office,
including intensive, ongoing training for all officers,
administration and community support programs and an
exhaustive management review program. Some of the units
within the department include K-9, a bomb squad unit,
the Summit County Drug Unit, a Crime Scene Unit and
a Juvenile Diversion Unit, among others.
“We are a very large agency,”
he said.
Reaction to the presentation
was mixed.
“I’m probably for
it unless something comes up,” said Jim Knight,
a resident of Norton since 1966. “I’m in
favor of the savings. I think we get good service here,
but I think we can get better with the sheriff.”
“The cost savings
is outrageous,” said Bob Copen. “It’s
a heck of a savings.”
But not everyone was in favor.
“Oh, no way,” said
one man, who refused to be identified. “There’s
more that goes into it than just monetary savings. The
service that you get from a sheriff’s office or
that you get from a local police department, there’s
no comparison.”
In wrapping up the presentation,
Jones was accused of having a personal agenda against
the police department.
“I know people are upset,”
he said. But regarding the police department, “We
no longer can afford it.”
Asked why he wouldn’t present
a proposal to Council, Jones, who has declared he will
be running for mayor next year, replied, “I’m
not going to vote on that and I’m not going to
let the other six vote on that.”
Ultimately, he said, “It
depends on you people. I think the way it has to be
handled is through an initiative petition. I need 485
signatures to put it on the ballot.”
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