County disputes increased dispatch charges
A running battle between city and county officials over dispatch services has escalated again, apparently as a result of unilateral changes made by city leaders in the arrangement under which the Newcastle Police Department provides dispatch services for all of the emergency responders in Weston County.
The Newcastle City Council and the Board of Weston County Commissioners are now disputing bills incurred by the county for dispatch services after the city sent the county an $11,000 bill for dispatch services, that the county is refusing to pay. During the county commission’s Jan. 17 meeting, the commissioners instead agreed to pay the previously agreed-upon amount of $9,000 for two months of dispatch services.
In September, the city warned the county in a letter that the contract for dispatch services would be terminated in 60 days if a new agreement was not forthcoming. The letter noted that, in November, the city would begin charging the county based on actual use of the dispatch center. The fee had been a set cost per month, but the city’s new billing resulted in an invoice to the county that was based on a fee assessed for each call for service attributed to county entities, and the total cost was $2,000 higher than the county had planned to pay.
According to Weston County Sheriff Bryan Colvard, a breakdown of the bill showed that the city’s dispatch services had charged the county $56 per call.
“The call volume is totally incorrect,” he said. “If we get a call for burning slash piles, they are billing us. They are billing us to cover for them (the Newcastle Police Department) or to do a UA (urine analysis) for them. They are billing when we literally do anything.”
Colvard noted that these types of dispatch contacts are not technically calls for service.
“That is the other issue I have. If they start billing calls for service, it becomes a significant officer safety issue,” he said, explaining that his deputies are likely to leave their vehicles for various reasons and not inform dispatch because they are charged $56 for every time a deputy contacts the dispatch center.
“These employees that work for the county aren’t about costing the county. They work every day trying to cut costs,” Colvard said. “My fear is, with that mentality, even if I tell them (to call) that they are not going to call in when they stop to pull a deer off the road. If they get smoked by a car, nobody will know they are out of their vehicle or where they are.”
He also said that the city has yet to relocate to its own building despite being evicted from the county in March of last year.
Commissioner Nathan Todd condemned the city for the increased charges, stating that there is no justification for the additional costs, especially when the sheriff’s department is “covering for them” while the Newcastle Police Department is short-handed and still providing space for the police department despite the eviction.
He suggested that Colvard total up the costs associated with answering the city’s calls for service, but then stated that he doesn’t want the county to get in a “tit for tat” with the city.
“I don’t want to go down that road. … The fact is, we are getting zero rent from the building,” Todd said.
He instead proposed writing to the city explaining that the county will not be paying the additional charges while the city’s police department is still occupying county office space and the sheriff’s department is still covering calls for the city.
According to Colvard, before his meeting with the county commissioners the city had already returned the $9,000 payment and was insisting on full payment of the invoice. He reported that he had sent a letter with the county’s payment for dispatch services which explained that his budget did not allow for the $2,000 increase. He suggested that the city council should discuss the increase with the county commissioners before the budget season.
According to Colvard the city also returned the utility payments for county buildings in Newcastle because that money was included in the check the county sent to cover the usual dispatch payment.
“When I called, they said it would make all of those late (utility payments) and they could potentially shut them off and charge a $45 reconnect fee,” County Clerk Becky Hadlock said, noting that the payments were technically made on time but the city refused them.
To avoid a utility cutoff to county buildings, the commissioners voted to approve a separate check to the city for utility payments.
The board also voted to pay the previously agreed-upon $9,000 for two months of dispatch services to the city, with only Commissioner Don Taylor voting against the motion.
The News Letter Journal has been unable to determine when the increased charges for dispatch services have been discussed during an open session of the City Council, and Colvard suggested to the county commissioners that the council might not even be aware of the increased bill.
There has been little to no public discussion about the ongoing dispatch dispute on the part of the Newcastle City Council in recent months, which suggests that, if the council did discuss the increased fees, the conversation had to have taken place in executive session.
According to the minutes of previous city council meetings that the city is required by Wyoming statute to publish in the News Letter Journal, the city council spent over seven hours in executive session from Aug. 1 to Dec. 19. The council has cited personnel, contracts and potential litigation as the justification for the private sessions.
During that same time period, the council spent less than 14 hours in open meetings, which means that more than one-third of their official meeting time has been spent behind closed doors.
