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Elko New Market votes to keep Police Department

Peter Cox, Special to the Star Tribune

The City Council had been considering contracting law enforcement services from Scott County. The city’s police department is housed in an old one-room schoolhouse south of Elko Speedway.

The city is listening to a consultant's recommendations after nearly a year of heated debate on whether to dissolve the force.

By PETER COX, Special to the Star Tribune

Last update: November 3, 2009 - 4:33 PM

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The Police Department in Elko New Market appears to be safe. For now.

Two weeks ago, the City Council voted to keep the city's police force permanently, after it was hastily reinstated in April following a brief hiatus. The decision came after almost a year of contention about whether the city should keep its own force or hire the Scott County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services.

Over the course of two meetings in April, the City Council voted to dissolve the Police Department, then later, to reinstate the department and, finally, to bring in a consultant to study the issue, gauge community feelings and make a recommendation.

"When you make a decision on behalf of 3,800 people, you have to have a basis for your decision," said Mayor Jason Ponsonby. "I think that's where the problem was. We didn't have any basis."

Matrix Consulting Group recommended the city keep its Police Department, saying it would save the city $100,000 per year over contracting with Scott County. The company also recommended the city have police coverage 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for a total of 112 hours. The council voted to have 80 hours of coverage per week, though it has yet to address how those hours would be structured, city officials said.

"While there are pros and cons associated with the decision, on balance, these seem to point towards maintaining a city police department," the report concluded.

The study, which cost $22,500, prompted the council's 4-1 vote to keep the department, Ponsonby said.

Council member Jim Friedges was the lone vote against the measure. He hesitated to speak much about his vote or the larger issue, but he said he believed going with the county sheriff would streamline the law enforcement system for the city, but it would also help bring back trust.

"To begin with, it wasn't the cost as much as the professionalism and quality of service you get. I didn't agree with keeping our police," he said. "With the problems we've had with the police department, I felt it would be better."

The small department has had its share of troubles.

Former officer Sgt. Steve Malecka, who signed a separation agreement with the city in the spring, was reprimanded in the fall of 2008 for having a desktop picture on his computer deemed to constitute sexual harassment, and for using police database information for personal use.

The ACLU also investigated allegations of racial bias by an officer in the department, but the investigation did not result in a conclusion from the group, an ACLU spokesman said.

At one May meeting, the first following the reinstatement of the police force, three part-time officers tendered their resignation.

The city now has a chief and two part-time officers.

Council member Dennis Melgaard thinks the council members who voted to abolish the force halted any progress in the department.

"Any time something like this starts in, nobody wants to be a part of it," he said about the officers' resignations. "I hope we can rise above this and get back to building ourselves a police force again."

Ponsonby said that some weren't happy with cost of the consultant's study, but he thinks the analysis was a big help.

"We've learned a ton. We have clear direction on what community wants," he said. "In the end, it got the council and the community back on track."

At Helen's Country Cafe, owner Helen Page said she's never had any issues with the police.

"They are great people," she said. "They stop. They talk to kids.

"They're part of the community."

She couldn't be more pleased about the council's vote.

"I'm very, very happy they decided to do this," she said.

Peter Cox is a St. Paul freelance writer.

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