New Salt Lake County law enforcement panel debates staffing levels

The new Law Enforcement Administrative Control Board, an alternative to the much debated Unified Police District, held its second meeting Tuesday.

But it was evident that a lot of details still need to be worked out before the five cities involved — Cottonwood Heights, Bluffdale, Holladay, Riverton and Herriman — are ready to officially sign contracts with Salt Lake County.

The mayors of the five cities, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon and two members of the Salt Lake County Council will be on the board.

Sheriff Jim Winder came up with the idea for the new entity. He said it would give cities the power to oversee the sheriff's office's budget, personnel and procedural issues and allow input on operations.

But the group's meeting Tuesday wasn't short of lively debate, especially when the issue of making sure each city got its fair allocation of deputies was raised and how the county planned on addressing the issue of deputies crossing over into other precincts.

At issue is what happens when deputies assigned to a city take an extended leave of absence for either military service, vacation, injury or pregnancy.

The mayors, such as Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore, argued that when cities sign a contract with the county, the price should be for a certain number of officers covering a certain area.

Furthermore, the mayors want to know whose responsibility it is to replace those deputies while they're out for personal reasons — such as vacation or sick leave.

Winder said most businesses have to make accommodations for those personnel issues.

But the mayors countered services bought and paid for should include a set number of deputies.

"It's not our responsibility to figure out to provide that type of coverage," Cullimore said. "You need to meet your contractual obligations."

Riverton Mayor Bill Applegarth said it's like the city contracting with a cleaning company to clean City Hall.

"I don't want to hear they can't clean our City Hall for three months because their employee is pregnant," he said.

Winder countered that hiring more deputies than necessary and having them sit idle with no specific assignment is not realistic.

"We can't have 120 percent of staff and have them waiting around until there's a vacancy," he said.