Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Sheriff Questions City's Plan To Cut CID Funding

Nevada County Sheriff Steve Otwell had some questions for the Prescott City Council.

At the regular monthly meeting of the city's governing body Monday, Dec. 20, Otwell asked why the city is cutting its contribution to the criminal investigator's salary.

The city and county have been funding the criminal investigator on an equal basis at $12,000 per year each until now.

Otwell said he learned of the decision a week before the council meeting and talked with Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor about it.

He said Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown brought it to his (Otwell's) attention.

"I feel I'm on the spot and don't know what to say," he told the council.

"I don't know what to say," Otwell continued. "I wanted to be sure it's nothing we did or didn't do. I felt we had a good relationship with the Prescott Police Department, and I'm not sure what we've done."

He asked if the new CID officer with the PPD will be assuming 100 percent responsibility for all city cases, and was assured this would be the case.

"This is appealing," Otwell said, "but we have a man taking a serious cut from his salary and the county doesn't have the money. I'm between a rock and a hard place."

Taylor said there are several officers in the PPD capable of handling criminal investigations, with the foremost rule being to continue providing for the safety of the community as a whole and not just Prescott.

He assured Otwell the decision had nothing to do with the NCSO and the job it's done to date.

"We can do it ourselves," he said, "and may be able to help the sheriff's office out in other ways."

Councilman Dick Bright said this matter had been discussed with Police Chief Sam Reeder, who was to get the numbers on the workload.

Reeder said it had been discussed, and told Otwell there is nothing negative between the two departments, he was just looking to improve the PPD and reduce the workload on Wayne Kisselburg, the current CID officer for the PPD and NCSO.

Bright suggested splitting the work this year, and removing it completely from the NCSO next year to give the Nevada Count Quorum Court time to get things worked out.

Otwell said the move would take 33 percent of the workload from Kisselburg, based on figures compiled from Jan. 1, 1999, to Nov. 30, 1999.

Councilman Howard Austin said the only thing the committee looked at was the workload and nothing else.

"I can see the advantage of the city taking care of city crime," Austin said. "There are some unsolved crimes because of the workload, and we thought maybe this would help."

Taylor said the city and county never had an interlocal agreement about providing criminal investigation services, but the two entities have been splitting the cost for several years.

City attorney Glenn Vasser said the city and county should have had an agreement, and though one was drawn up it was never signed.

It was asked if the city would be capable of taking 100 percent of its criminal investigating duties on now or if a transition period would be needed.

Reeder told the council a transition period would help as it will take time to sort things out.

Bright suggested splitting the $12,000 up to "be good neighbors."

However, the council decided to fund the NCSO CID for six months, giving the PPD CID time to get up and running.

An agreement will be drawn up between the city and council stating this, as it will need to be approved by both bodies.