Where’s a cop when you need one?

By Larry Judkins

Glenn County Observer

In the coming months, the question posed by the above headline may get asked by a lot of residents of Willows.

On Tuesday, Oct. 3, the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office issued a release explaining that the GCSO “has provided law enforcement services to the City of Willows since 2017 under a contract for services.”

“The contract,” the sheriff’s release continued, “expired on June 30, 2023. Following several months of negotiations, the Sheriff’s Office and the City of Willows have been unable to come to an agreement on the 2023 contract for services.”

The GCSO release states, “Due to increased costs to provide services and increased caseload within the City of Willows jurisdiction, the total cost of the contract has increased.” The City of Willows jurisdiction accounts for approximately 50 percent of the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office’s total law enforcement caseload, the GCSO says.

“This increase in costs and caseload must be accounted for in the contract renewal,” the release explains. “Per government code 51350, the County must contract for actual costs for services provided and cannot provide services at a discounted or lower rate than actuals.

“Additionally,” the release goes on, “the Sheriff’s Office will not sacrifice officer safety by agreeing to staffing levels below the minimum required.”

The GCSO document reads, “The Sheriff’s Office has continued to meet with City Management to discuss this issue and has provided documentation for the increased costs as well as the required increase in staffing to meet the law enforcement needs of Willows.

“The Sheriff’s Office has also presented alternative solutions to the City of Willows including a transition plan for the restart of City provided law enforcement services. This transition plan would come with phased law enforcement coverage by the Sheriff’s Office until the City Police Department could be reinstated.

“Currently, there is no contract for law enforcement services in effect for the City of Willows. The Sheriff’s Office continues to provide law enforcement services within the city limits; however, [the GCSO] has been unable to bill for the services provided since July 1, 2023.

“Currently the costs incurred exceed $600,000.”

The GCSO release concludes, “If the Sheriff’s Office and the City of Willows are unable to come to an agreement by October 16, 2023, contracted Law Enforcement services, including animal control, will end in the City of Willows. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to provide dispatching services and respond only to felonies in progress.

“The Sheriff’s Office remains committed to finding a solution that ensures the safety of the residents of Willows as well as the safety of our deputies….”

On Thursday, Oct. 5, the City of Willows posted comments by members of the Willows City Council: The post was headlined, “Willows City Council Agrees with Glenn County Sheriff: The City needs to move forward with rebuilding its own law enforcement services”.

The post reads:

The Willows City Council agrees with the Glenn County Sheriff that the City needs to start planning and incrementally moving forward to reinstate its own law enforcement services. While it will take time and support from the Sheriff’s Office, the Council is committed to rebuilding and providing high quality law enforcement services to the citizens of Willows.

“We agree with the Sheriff that the City needs to bring its law enforcement and public safety services back inhouse; however, we need time and money to get there,” stated Mayor [Richard] Thomas.

To that end and effective with the next round of accounts payable, the City will pay the County through the month of October 2023 based on the Council approved fiscal year 2023-24 budget for law enforcement services. The remaining budget will be paid in early 2024 after the City receives its property taxes. Concurrently, the City hopes that the Sheriff’s Office will work with the City to develop a transition plan to reestablish the City’s own law enforcement services.

“The City has been an honest and transparent partner with the Sheriff’s Office, especially regarding the City’s struggling financial circumstances, and we hope this payment will demonstrate our commitment to law enforcement and to protecting our families and children,” commented Vice-Mayor [David] Vodden.

In the short term and during this transition, the City would also appreciate the Sheriff’s cooperation and support in affirming an affordable law enforcement contract as the City gradually reduces its reliability on the Sheriff’s Office.

When asked to comment on the current situation with the City’s law enforcement negotiations, Councilmember [Gary] Hansen (and retired law enforcement) stated: “We appreciate that public safety protection services are costly and those costs are increasing every day; however, with the city’s current financial circumstances and for the time being, we simply cannot afford to pay more than is already budgeted for. Rest assured, however, the council is fully committed to providing the professional and effective law enforcement services that our citizens need and deserve.”

Following its Tuesday, Oct. 10 meeting, “[The Willows City Council], with a 4-1 vote in favor, declared a fiscal emergency and authorized staff to place a 1 [percent] sales tax measure on the March 2024 presidential primary election ballot.”

Willows Mayor Richard Thomas commented, “I am very concerned about the City’s fiscal future. We need to find a path forward that, in the short term, balances increased revenues with controlled spending; and in the long term, strives for greater self-reliance to sustain critical city services.

“In a nutshell, the city needs to grow its population in order to sustain itself for the long term. Right now, however, we need immediate revenue to remain solvent beyond 2024.”

According to the City of Willows, the City already faces an ongoing estimated deficit of nearly a half-million dollars that will continue to grow to a projected $1.6 million with the proposed increase in the law enforcement contract with the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office.

Vice Mayor David Vodden said, “We need the sales tax in order to provide more services and benefits that will improve our quality of life ­ more funding to do more things to make City of Willows and our lives better! The tax increase is an immediate means to opening up doors and generating more opportunities to better our community and city!”

After the Oct. 10 Willows City Council meeting, the City of Willows explained that regardless of whether the City contracts with the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office or the City of Willows re-establishes its own law enforcement program, the City does not currently generate sufficient revenues to provide adequate and sustainable law enforcement services long term, as well as other vital city services, including fire, emergency medical, public works, permitting, finance, library and administration.

When asked to comment, Councilmember Gary Hansen stated, “The Council’s number one duty and obligation to the citizens of Willows is to provide effective and adequately funded law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical, and public works services. With rising costs and inflation, the city has no other choice but to consider a sales tax measure.”

With the current proposed cost increase for law enforcement services, the City of Willows said, the City will have no General Fund Reserve and cashflow by 2025, requiring deep cuts in city services to balance the budget starting in the second half of 2024.

“By placing this measure on the ballot, we have given Willows voters the opportunity to help ourselves and to decide our children’s future. We cannot function with current revenues. If we want to stay incorporated, this is our best opportunity to fix the city and ‘pay ourselves’ for the quality of life we all deserve and want,” commented newly appointed Councilmember Evan Hutson.

On Friday, Oct. 13, the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office issued the following release:

Following several months of negotiations, the Sheriff’s Office and the City of Willows have been unable to come to an agreement on the contract for law enforcement services for the City of Willows. Since July 2023, there has been no contract for law enforcement services in effect for the City of Willows. The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office has continued to provide services to the City of Willows in good faith; however, the Sheriff’s Office has been unable to bill for the actual costs of the services, which exceed $700,000.

The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office is unable to continue providing law enforcement services to Willows without adequate funding from the city. The Sheriff’s Office cannot continue to shoulder the cost of city services without significant impacts to county services, county residents, and risks to officer safety.

The City of Willows jurisdiction accounts for approximately 50 percent of [the GCSO’s] total law enforcement caseload. The cost of providing services has increased significantly since 2017 due to increased wages, benefits, and inflation on supplies, equipment, and transportation. Per government code 51350, the county must contract for actual costs for services and cannot provide services at a discounted or lower rate than actuals, therefore, providing services at a reduced rate to the city is not an option.

Beginning Monday night at 11:59 p.m., October 16, 2023, [the] Glenn County Sheriff’s Office will no longer provide law enforcement and animal control services to the City of Willows. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to provide dispatching services and respond only to felonies in progress. Routine calls for service will be transferred to the City of Willows.

We continue to negotiate with the City of Willows to provide essential law enforcement services. A potential solution being explored is an option to provide phased law enforcement coverage by the Sheriff’s Office until the City Police Department could be reinstated.

Then, on Monday, Oct. 16, the sheriff’s office announced that there will be “no interruption to law enforcement services for the City of Willows due to a tentative agreement being reached between the City and the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office this afternoon. This agreement will provide payment for law enforcement services through the end of the calendar year 2023.

The next day, Willow Mayor Richard Thomas wrote, “The City Council has agreed to pay $1,285,000 to the Glenn County Sheriff to continue police services for the City of Willows starting at midnight tonight. Public safety is paramount to our city services and we will continue to make sure our citizens are well-served. If at all possible, we’d like to avoid this same problem that we had and make sure that we’ve ironed out the details well before the end of the calendar year so we don’t have these issues in January. That’s been the goal of the city council all along, to make sure that folks are served and protected.”

The same day, Glenn County Sheriff Justin Gibbs commented, “[The city is] planning on going down the path of reopening the City of Willows Police Department and the sheriff’s office, myself included, will be there to jointly help them hand in hand throughout that entire process.”

So, for the moment at least, Willows’ law enforcement crisis has been averted. However, as Mayor Thomas said on Oct. 17, “If at all possible, we’d like to avoid this same problem that we had and make sure that we’ve ironed out the details well before the end of the calendar year so we don’t have these issues in January.”

Therefore, the possibility of residents of Willows wondering, “Where’s a cop when you need one?” may yet happen after the start of the new year.

But let’s hope not.