The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Body cams, additional employees and Mt. CB law enforcement contract
By Katherine Nettles
As the county staff prepares its overall 2020 budget, the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office joined several other departments in presenting requested funds and changes for the year ahead to county commissioners in a work session on October 29.
Sheriff John Gallowich gave an overview that included several additional employees and some needed technology upgrades for the department, and he weighed in on his vision for an ongoing law enforcement contract with Mt. Crested Butte Police Department at the north end of the valley and for an eventual sheriff’s substation here as well.
The Sheriff’s Office has projected to operate at an estimated $3,490,840 net cost to the county for 2020. The department added a new deputy position in 2019, and is now asking to convert a current open patrol position to a sergeant position (a $24,000 increase). The county had approved the sergeant’s position last year, but the sheriff ended up using those funds (among others) for a renewed contract with Mt. Crested Butte for law enforcement. Gallowich said he would like to recoup that lost position now.
The sheriff has made several other requests in 2020, such as giving cell phones and body cameras to deputies for increased accountability and legal protection, and so deputies can stop using personal phones for photographing crime scenes and investigation interviews. The body cameras will cost $24,000 the first year of start-up, with lower annual fees thereafter.
The department has also requested three vehicle replacements for its fleet. Last, the department requested one new fingerprint machine at a cost of $17,000, and foresees needing to replace its other machine in the near future as well.
Gallowich hopes to secure additional manpower in 2020 by adding two new corporals for the detention center. He plans to wait on this until he determines fiscal viability, by first reducing overtime within the department and then by increasing revenue through renting inmate beds in the detention center to neighboring counties that need the space.
Gallowich said he wants to get a long-term contract in place with the Mt. Crested Butte Police Department to continue law enforcement coverage throughout the north end of the Gunnison Valley without re-visiting it each year, and to approve a 4 percent increase to the Mt. Crested Butte department for its services. The current contract costs the county about $139,000 per year.
“I have talked with the north end of the valley, and I believe they would like to continue that service. We’re looking at maybe a four- or five-year plan, with a clause that we can exit from that at any time. I’m sure they would want the same ability,” said Gallowich.
“Because long-term we have to look at, what are we going to do for law enforcement in the north end of the valley? What’s our vision?” asked Gallowich.
County commissioner Jonathan Houck asked Gallowich to talk more about what his vision would be, and commissioner Roland Mason asked specifically about plans for a substation at the north end. There have been capital funds slotted for that possibility, noted Mason, and he wondered if those should remain in place.
The sheriff asked that the funds remain in place, and said he has continued looking into a substation location for eventually increasing the sheriff’s deputy presence in the northern area. He said he has asked Crested Butte South to consider offering the department some property, and he said there are other potential options as well. If and when the department attains the right property, they need to be able to move forward on design and planning, he said. This could be within a year, or a few years down the road.
“It may be that there is an ongoing contract with Mt. Crested Butte for a certain amount. But as we grow, I think the sheriff would really like to put the resources into his own folks,” said county manager Matthew Birnie. He noted that there is a mutual aid agreement between all law enforcement agencies throughout the county, and that would still apply.
Houck also checked in about one cost-saving measure happening within the Sheriff’s Office, which is the directive to use compressed natural gas (CNG) in all deputy vehicles with the dual fuel capacity to carry both CNG and gasoline. The county signed an agreement with alternative fuel developer Trillium, and committed to using one million gallons over 10 years, in exhange for a $1 discount per gallon.
Gallowich said that adoption of using the CNG has doubled, but has overall been slower than hoped. He and Birnie have been discussing how to get adoption of the cost-efficient fuel to double again among deputies, which may include troubleshooting technical issues in colder weather.
Birnie said the county needs to start moving Regional Transit Authority vehicles and other large vehicles in the county fleet to that option as well to meet the million-gallon quota and maximize the cost savings.
The next budget work session for the commissioners is scheduled for November 12. There will be a public hearing on December 10, and the county commissioners expect to adopt the budget on December 13.
