It appears the mutual partnership between the City of Guthrie and the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) when it comes to emergency management services is ending following a BOCC meeting held on Monday morning.
In July, the BOCC appointed Sheriff Damon Devereaux to negotiate a contract involving an emergency management agreement between the two entities.
Previous contracts called for the City to pay an annual $13,000 to the County for a mutual aid agreement. In addition, the City agreed to pay for telephone service, a cable drop for television service and maintain insurance coverage on items such as shelves, radios, antennas and equipment accessories.
In a proposed contract in July, District 1 County Commissioner Marven Goodman drafted a contract requesting the City to pay $60,000 annually, along with removing the City’s duties of supplying telephone and cable service. The commissioner said “it may be a bit excessive” but that it was a good starting point.
In the Oct. 5 BOCC meeting, Devereaux stated the City offered 25% of the cost, which correlates to the City’s population of Logan County. However, in the same meeting, the three commissioners agreed to seeking a 30% cost from the City.
On Monday, Goodman stated they (County) are now going on seven months without a contract with the City.
“I’m of the belief that if they wanted a contract, we would have one by now,” Goodman said. “I am of the opinion of we should no longer consider Logan County providing those services to the City.”
District 3 Commissioner Monty Piearcy questioned why the City had not signed any paperwork on the proposed contract.
Goodman responded, “don’t have a clue.”
Guthrie News Page obtained an email correspondence between Guthrie City Manager Leroy Alsup and Devereaux dated Oct. 5. The correspondence took place as the Oct. 5 BOCC meeting was being held.
In the email, Devereaux informed Alsup the BOCC is requesting a 30% cost.
In response, Alsup told Devereaux, “If we can lock in 30% as the City of Guthrie’s cost share going forward, I believe in the spirit of cooperation that would be acceptable.”
On Monday Alsup added, “Sheriff Devereaux stated that he would get a new agreement drafted (to that effect) so that we could present it to the Guthrie City Council for formal approval and signature.”
Alsup added, “For the County to indicate that the City of Guthrie had not been responsive to this matter is not correct.”
Goodman shared multiple concerns with an agreement with the City.
“I have seen that we had a little bit of an issue with our emergency manager trying to serve two masters — one at the county level and one at the city level.”
In previous BOCC meetings, Goodman has shared his feelings toward the City and continued on Monday.
“They are not very forthcoming in working with us in other areas of emergency management. That one-fourth reimbursement certainly does not enter into their equations when we talk about ‘911 over funding’ that the City gets from ACOG (Association of Central Oklahoma Governments).”
He finished by saying, “The over collected fees for 911 service is in our unincorporated areas goes to the City and they don’t want to share any of that with us to help with our Sheriff’s 911 system. They (City) refuse to do that right now.”
Be the first to comment on "Watch: Emergency management partnership fades away from BOCC, City of Guthrie"