The Law Enforcement Task Force determined it’s not financially feasible to consolidate law enforcement entities in Lyon County.
The task force had its final formal meeting Thursday afternoon to review a statement and recommendations based on a study by Springstead, the company that examined the potential for consolidating city and county law enforcement. The company presented its final report in December.
Government bodies in Lyon County will be presented with a complete set of recommendations in the near future. The task force began meeting in March 2007 with Marshall Miller as chair and Julie Johnson as vice-chair. The group has been meeting regularly to determine the feasibility of combining the Emporia Police Department and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.
The first statement the group will issue to government bodies in Lyon County is that it’s not financially feasible to consolidate law enforcement entities in Lyon County.
Several topics came up during Thursday afternoon’s meeting including the possibility of combining the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and Emporia Police Department’s dispatch centers. Miller stated that a combined dispatch would save taxpayers by having one set of equipment. Richard Old, Lyon County undersheriff, said the initial set up costs with new equipment would be hard to recoup.
City Manager Matt Zimmerman said the two entities already share the same phone system and the hardware is already set up.
“The question is do you put them all in one place…” Zimmerman said.
Phillip Winter, task force member, said he was not worried about hardware — he was worried about the people aspect.
“How are you going to administer that?” Winter asked. “It’s an entirely different thing.”
After discussing the idea for a while, Zimmerman said the charge of the task force isn’t to figure out how the dispatch consolidation would work.
“I don’t think that’s what you’re voting on today,” he said.
Johnson agreed.
The task force again turned back to its set of recommendations. Another recommendation stated that future consolidation models in Lyon County should have the groups under the same roof — not operating in separate facilities.
Once final recommendations are made to each of the governing bodies in Lyon County — Emporia City Commission and the Lyon County Commission—the task force will disband.