FPS staff report
October 14, 2008
Carroll County Sheriff Dale Williams now says he isn’t in favor of disbanding the Carrollton Police Department.
Williams said last Thursday morning, after reading a story in the FPS about an initiative to disband the Carrollton Police Department, he doesn’t want anything to do with the idea.
“I am not undermining the Carrollton Police Department,” Williams said. “They approached me. I didn’t approach them.”
Williams said Carrollton Mayor Dave Flanary approached him about a month ago asking for his support to keep the police department open. “Then, Councilman Bob Dunlap asked me to look at the figures (budget) to see if I could save the village any money by taking over the department.”
Williams said his department can’t enforce village ordinances such as dogs barking, mowing lawns and loud noise. “We can only cite people under state codes,” he explained.
Williams also had a response to a comment made by Carrollton Police Chief Ron Yeager in the story about the Sheriff’s Department taking over the Malvern Police Department. “He (Ron Yeager) said the plan didn’t work in Malvern,” Williams stated. “I’ll tell you why it didn’t work in Malvern. They don’t have any money. The first year they paid me over $80,000. The second year they wanted me to do it for half that.
“We take care of traffic citations and calls in Malvern because the village lies within the county. If Carrollton Council closes the Carrollton Police Department, we will be blessed it as well because it also lies within the county. If council makes the decision to close the department, we will sit down and talk, but until that point, I am not supportive of closing the department.”
Councilman Dunlap said he gave information to the sheriff to review based on an idea to save the village money. He said the 2009 budget for the police department is $476,000. The village has seven full-time officers (including Chief Yeager) and fills in with part-time officers. Yeager said salaries for 2008 totaled $267,500. |
