Sacred Cow has been fed

At last week’s town Council meeting, the Mayor, Administrator and four of the five Town council members rushed through (in my opinion) an extension of the current contract for police services with the Skagit County Sheriff. The extension covers Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021 at a cost of $331,097!

In return the town receives 80 hours of “police service” a month! However, the contract provides that the Sheriff will patrol south to Conway and north to Bayview – within those 80 hours.

Mine was the sole voice to question the value of service we receive versus the high cost and the ability of the town to sustain such a costly contract. I urged the council to review and question the details of the agreement and to seek alternative police services or go back and negotiate a better contract that truly serves La Conner and relieves us of paying for other communities’ “protection.”

During the Zoom meeting one resident presented concern about police coverage in town, citing an example where she called the Sheriff’s Office and their response was that the officer was in Sedro Woolley and not able to respond quickly! Another resident remarked that it is usually the Swinomish Police that respond before the Sheriff’s vehicles, which has also been my observation on numerous occasions.

Reviewing the contract circa 2013, there was verbiage calling for the patrolling of La Conner’s downtown area on a specific basis, this is no longer in the agreement language. Why not?

As you may recall at the outset of the COVID shutdown there was a series of malicious mischief, break-ins, minor thefts and an expensive burglary at both the school and our own Public Works space. The Town’s answer was hiring a private security contractor. Why pay the Sheriff?

I strongly urge the residents and taxpayers to question this extension and to take a closer look at how your tax dollars are being spent.

John Leaver

La Conner

Town Council Position #2