Residents unite and voice support to keep police department
In an unusually crowded city council chambers, Montgomery residents united and voiced their support of keeping the Montgomery Police Department instead of possibly outsourcing it to the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Department.
The open forum, which was listed on the city’s website as a special meeting, gave residents the opportunity to voice their concerns and support, something they did not receive last week. Mayor John Grimm opened the meeting with an apology. He said a misunderstanding resulted in frustrated residents who sat through two hours of a council meeting last week then didn’t get a chance to speak.
“I apologize for the misunderstanding at last week’s meeting. Essentially, I wasted two hours of your time. The expectations you had and the expectations I had were completely different. The good news is when we screw up, we learn from it. This is your meeting. This is your opportunity to tell us what you think.”
Then, residents spoke for almost two hours. One by one, with respect and sometimes deep emotion and tears, residents expressed their concerns over the possibility of eliminating the police department and contracting with the sheriff’s department.
Carol Kiekow opened the comments by sharing a personal story in which police responded within three minutes to a medical situation at her residence.
Gordon Shriver continued by saying he knows personally several of the local officers.
Karen Parsons, fighting back tears, asked if the council cuts the police department, are the ambulance and fire departments next?
Jodi Blumhoefer shared her frustration when she lived in Monticello, whose city contracts with the Wright County Sheriff’s Department. She said having different officers on duty all the time who didn’t know her son’s medical diagnosis resulted in never establishing a personal connection like the Montgomery police force.
“It was not a positive experience. I found myself saying the stories over and over,” she said.
Blumhofer, like many who spoke, said they have the utmost respect for the county law enforcement, but felt the community should have its own police force. She questioned how officers would receive their shifts.
Sheriff Brett Mason said the deputies bid on shifts on a yearly basis, so Montgomery’s officers would have certain officers for one year. However, their experience levels would vary according to seniority in the sheriff’s department.
Dawn Anderson spoke about the company she works for and the ramifications of outsourcing its critical components, like what Montgomery may do with its police department. She said when you outsource, you can measure many things on a graph or a budget, like staffing locations, leases … etc. However, her company didn’t look at one important aspect: customer service.
“The things they forgot to look at were the intangible things, the emotional impact and the customer service component. The reality here is you have a police department with a history of service. They live here. They work here. They know the community. That’s really, really difficult to replace. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s really difficult. You can’t measure that in a budget,” she said.
Read more about this in the print edition.
