Chris Bertram, a sheriff's lieutenant, shared the story of the three-month search to find Alex Tanigawa, a 1-year-old baby kidnapped from Cottonwood Heights. The boy was kidnapped by his father, Nicholas Gamvas, and investigators traveled to Rhode Island to find him.

"No small agency in this valley could afford to pay for that," he said. "The last thing this valley needs is another small police department."

The city plans to sign an interlocal agreement with other self-providing cities to pool services.

"This sheriff's department, they're wonderful and I think I could say for everybody, we feel safe with them. Are we going to feel safe with somebody else?" said Shawnee Brown.

But Kari Cannon said something needs to be fixed. She cited a 40-minute police response time in her neighborhood for robberies.

"I'm a personal victim of identity theft; my neighbor was broken into a couple of weeks ago. There has not been a response on those issues, and I live in this community now," she said. "There's definitely a rift in the police protection that's going on. Let's resolve it."

Others noted local control is why Cottonwood incorporated in 2005. Some wanted the residents to vote on a city-run department.

"We have not been dissatisfied with the service we've had from the sheriff's department," said Councilman Don Antczak. "The thing that brought this about was the contradictions in the contract and that's upsetting to us. And if that can be worked out, we can probably continue on the road."

After the meeting, Cullimore said the city is open to further contract discussions, although he added: "We're not confident anything's going to change."

"This is not an ego issue. There are issues of trust because of contract breaches. But we are looking for the best law enforcement solution," he said.

The city and sheriff's office disagree over contract matters that flared up earlier this year. Cottonwood Height's top cop Lt. Robbie Russo was placed on administrative leave in July, and then reassigned to the Kearns/Magna precinct. All of this was done without Cottonwood Height's input.

Winder, however, said he was heartened by the meeting.

"Clearly, there's enough desire to try and work through these issues," he said. "It sounds to me like this contractual issue, they want it responded. What we do need is a cooling off period."

The City Council will decide the issue in the next several weeks. A city force could be created by July. 2008.

---

E-mail: astowell@desnews.com