Joseph abandons law enforcement contract

Published 3:57 pm Monday, June 8, 2020

JOSEPH — The Joseph City Council voted unanimously to terminate the city’s contract for law enforcement services with Wallowa County, saying the county is in breach of contract. The council met at the Joseph Community Center for the first time Thursday, June 4, after a two-month hiatus because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The three-year contract, signed in November 2018, is comprised of two major parts: police patrol duties by the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office, and code and ordinance enforcement by the Wallowa County Circuit Court.

Council members and Mayor Teresa Sajonia emphasized that they were satisfied with the sheriff’s patrol portion of the contract, but the court portion made it appear the code and ordinance enforcement didn’t exist.

“This contract would not even have passed without the ordinance-enforcement clause,” Sajonia said. “Our ordinances mean nothing. We’re going to be a city of no rules.”

Braden said the codes and ordinances most often violated have to do with junk or wrecked vehicles or uncontrolled weeds and grass within city limits. When it’s determined a property owner is in violation, the owner is called, then visited and informed they have 10 days to remedy the problem. After that, the owner is fined $500 a day until remedied.

Sajonia again emphasized it’s not the sheriff’s office patrol efforts that are a problem. “It’s about the prosecution end of it,” the mayor said.

Braden said often when property owners are informed that they are in violation of an ordinance, it is usually because they were unaware of it and they are more than willing to remedy the problem. But some property owners simply don’t care, he said.

Sajonia told of at least two places on Main Street that have been notified of violations four times and still haven’t corrected the problems.

Councilwoman Pearl Sturm asked city Administrator Larry Braden what the county commissioners had to say about the city’s complaints. He said the commissioners are willing to work things out.

“But the district court won’t even hear the cases,” Braden said.

He said he believes District Attorney Rebecca Frolander was not aware of the ordinance and code enforcement portion of the contract. She was not a signatory to the 2018 contract.

Frolander said that while she was not a party to the contract, her office is short-staffed and doesn’t have the time for the extra load required to prosecute municipal code and ordinance violations. “We don’t have the time to handle the prosecution of crimes and violations we have as it is,” she said.

Braden said after the meeting he expects the contract may need to be renegotiated to keep the sheriff’s office patrol portion and simply drop the ordinance and code enforcement. Enterprise Police Chief Joel Fish told the council how his department has a hearing officer funded by fine money returned to the city by the state. That hearing officer handles ordinance and code enforcement in Enterprise.

However, it may not be so simple. Enterprise City Administrator Lacey McQuead said that local attorney Rebecca Knapp has served as the hearing officer for the city, but has had to recuse herself from several cases because of potential conflict of interest.

Frolander said the issue extends beyond just Enterprise or Joseph, adding that Wallowa also needs its laws enforced.

“My suggestion was for all parties to get together and see if all three cities want to hire a hearing officer because all three cities have the same issue,” she said, adding that she had explained such a plan to Braden.

Braden said as things now stand, with the city paying nearly $114,000 a year to the county for law enforcement services, it’s not in the city budget to fund such a hearing officer as Fish described. However, by renegotiating the contract for just patrol services at a lesser cost, he expects to be able to fund a hearing officer similar to what Enterprise has who would hold hearings monthly. Anyone who failed to show, would be subject to action in small claims court, Braden said.

County Commissioner Susan Roberts said the commission has received the notice of termination from Joseph. She said no decision has been made on the next steps, but the county would be willing to consider a new agreement.

“We’re always willing to hear what they want to do,” she said.