Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

1995 Agreement That AG Did Not Approve To Be Amended

An amendment will be made to the interlocal agreement between Prescott and Nevada County concerning the dispatching of law enforcement officers.

According to Prescott City Attorney Glenn Vasser, the amendment is needed to make the Nevada County Sheriff the administrator of the program.

Under the terms of this agreement, which was originally passed in 1995, the dispatching duties for the Prescott Police Department and Nevada County Sheriff's Office were to be combined and done by the NCSO, thereby eliminating the city's dispatching.

An interlocal agreement was drawn up between the city and county to do this, and was then sent to the Arkansas Attorney General who was to sign off on it.

However, then-AG Winston Bryant failed to sign off on the agreement because he said several things hadn't been covered under it.

These items included the duration of the agreement, its purpose, joint financing, along with establishing a budget for it, termination of the agreement, providing an administrator or joint board to oversee it and how any real property would be acquired, held and disposed of.

Vasser said he has looked for the originals of the agreement, but hasn't been able to find them as they have been retired and filed away.

"I think the state statute requires the sheriff to be the administrator, and we will amend the agreement accordingly," he said.

The amended agreement will be submitted to both the Prescott City Council and Nevada County Quorum Court for their approval.

"This is all I know to do," Vasser said.

Arkansas law requires all interlocal agreements to be approved by the Attorney General's office.

Should the agreement not be approved by the Attorney General's office this time, suit could be filed against the city and county to rescind it.

Mike Teague, with the Attorney General's office, said the AG's roll is mostly as counsel, especially for interlocal agreements.

The office, he said, has no enforcement powers, but if the people in the area feel there is a problem with the agreement, they can file suit.

To do this, Teague said, they would need to contact the prosecuting attorney's office to get the legal proceedings done.

Should suit be filed and the agreement thrown out the PPD would be required to begin dispatching its own officers again.

Both the city and county would have to figure out how to separate the equipment involved, or another agreement could be drawn up, approved by both governing bodies and resubmitted to the Attorney General for approval.