By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
While the Waterford Village Board recently made its decision about the direction of police oversight in 2013, some of the finer points are still being worked out.
In a narrow 4-3 vote earlier this month, the board decided to pursue a police services contract with the Racine County Sheriff’s Department next year, nixing further consideration of a previous proposal from the Town of Waterford to provide those services to the village.
While the board voted on a course of action, a formal motion has yet to be made on the specifics of the 2013 agreement between the two agencies.
Monday night, Village President Tom Roanhouse provided a status of the much-scrutinized issue at a Village Board meeting.
Roanhouse said he met recently with officials from the sheriff’s office to discuss details about the new contract that is being drawn up. The meeting lasted two hours.
“It was a very fruitful conversation,” Roanhouse said.
“We’re looking at all of the expectations and putting them in the contract so everybody is clear.”
Roanhouse said one final meeting between the village and sheriff’s office is planned in early September to hammer out some last-minute details.
“I think it’s best to go over it one last time,” he said.
Based on Roanhouse’s revised timeline, plans call for the board to act on the formal contract in late September.
“It’s conceivable this board would be able to sign a contract within the next month,” Roanhouse said. “We’re moving forward, and that’s exciting.”
The new contract, to cover a full year, is expected to address a number of issues, including an outline of how the sheriff’s office will manage the village’s one sworn officer.
The overarching goal of the contract, Roanhouse said, is improved inter-agency communications.
Once the documents are signed, that will provide closure to a debate that has been ongoing for an extended period of time in the community.
Through late July, the village was still considering the joint partnership with the town, whose officials asserted a shared arrangement could have yielded $25,000 in savings for the village in 2013.
Earlier this month, Roanhouse described the board’s split vote to move away from the town’s proposal and move forward with the sheriff’s office as one the most difficult decisions the board has made in the past 10-20 years.
The sheriff’s department has provided some level of service to the village for 35 years.
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