Article published Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Maumee $20,000 prisoner-transport pact OK'd BLADE STAFF
Townships lacking their own police departments won't be the only ones getting bills for services from the Lucas County Sheriff's Office.
Maumee City Council last week approved a $20,000-a-year contract with the county to transport inmates from the county jail to Maumee Municipal Court one morning a week - a service that previously had been provided at no cost to the city.
Sheriff James Telb said that in recent years his office worked with area police departments such as Oregon and Sylvania to transport prisoners to court to free up his deputies for other duties, and all but Maumee are doing that.
Maumee Police Chief Robert Zink recommended the contract to city council, saying his department could not have done the transports for less than $20,000 a year. Inmates assigned to be represented by public defenders are taken to court on Thursdays for hearings.
"We have a vehicle, but it doesn't have the capacity they have, so we would have to take more than one trip down to the jail, back and forth," Chief Zink said. "We'd be leaving from here so it would be an additional trip. We would need more than one officer. It would've just been more costly for us on a number of fronts."
The contract is retroactive to March 1 and runs through Feb. 28, 2010. It contains provisions to be renewed for three years.
In addition to the Maumee contract, Sheriff Telb said he is "pursuing contracts" with police and fire departments for whom the sheriff's office takes and dispatches emergency calls.
"That cost will be passed on to those we don't police," he said.
Washington Township, Waterville Township, Whitehouse, and Holland are among the departments that would be affected, he said. Earlier this year, the sheriff's office signed a four-year agreement with Waterville police to provide dispatch services for $130,000 a year. Waterville previously had contracted with Maumee for the service.
"They've all been made aware that this is coming," the sheriff said. "We're not going to start charging until Jan. 1, and it's not a great deal of money, but if they all do it, it will help."
He estimated dispatching services would bring in close to $250,000 a year for the county, which is struggling financially. In June, Lucas County commissioners and the sheriff informed eight townships that lack their own police departments that what had been free police service would end Jan. 1.
The townships are deciding whether to contract with other police departments, form their own, contract with the sheriff, or get by without police patrols. Permanent Link
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