On July 10, 2009, the Gila County Board of Supervisors approved an IGA between the Town and Gila County Animal Control to provide the Town with certain animal control services. The Gila County Sheriff's Office has been providing law enforcement for the Town of Star Valley since 2009. Also since 2009, Gila County Animal Control and the Gila County Sheriff's Office have worked together to provide animal control services to the Town, which included the Sheriff's Officers responding to after-hour calls, on weekends, and holidays. Since 2009, there has been no service fee charged to the Town to respond to these calls by the Gila County Sheriff's Office. Between January 1, 2018, to September 2020, the Gila County Sheriff's Office has handled 184 animal control calls for after-hours, weekends, and holidays. In September 2020, the Town contracted law enforcement services with the Town of Payson Police Department ending the contract with the Gila County Sheriff's Office. In October 2020, the Gila County Animal Control Manager was notified by the Payson Police Department that they will not be dispatching officers to after hour, weekend, and holiday calls.
On December 1, 2020, an agenda item was presented to the Board of Supervisors by Michael O'Driscoll, Health and Emergency Management Department Director, to request the Board's authorization to cancel the IGA between Gila County Animal Control and the Town, which includes sending the required 30-day cancellation notification to the Town. In learning that Town officials had not been previously informed about canceling the contract, the Board tabled action on this matter and directed Mr. O'Driscoll to contact Timothy Grier, Manager/Attorney for the Town of Star Valley, to find out if the Town Council would be interested in negotiating a new contract with different billable rates and terms or cancel the current IGA which is due to expire at the end of December 2020.
On December 7, 2020, Mr. O'Driscoll sent Mr. Grier a letter regarding the County's intention to cancel the existing contract and to request input from the Town Council on whether the Town would be interested in entering into a new contract with the County.
At the Board of Supervisors' December 15, 2020, Regular Meeting, Mr. Grier informed the Board that he forwarded Mr. O'Driscoll's December 7th letter to each Town Council member; however, to date, he has only received a response from one of the members. Mr. Grier added that this matter was to be addressed by the Council later that evening. The Board tabled this matter to its January 5, 2021, Regular Meeting to allow Mr. Grier to obtain direction from all Town Council members.
On December 16, 2020, Mr. Grier sent a letter to Supervisor Cline advising that the Town Council was providing 30 days' notice to cancel the IGA as required by the IGA. Further, the letter states that the Town Council voted to immediately employ the Town of Payson animal control services at its December 15, 2020 meeting, so if the County agrees, the IGA would be immediately terminated with a waiver of the 30-day waiting period. |