City terminates county cop pact
Refund of $32,000 will be received, says Sheriff Gil Gilbertson
A $32,000 refund from the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) will be received by the city of Cave Junction as the city council voted 4-0 during its Monday night, March 26 meeting to terminate its contract.
Mayor Tony Paulson sent a letter to Sheriff Gil Gilbertson on March 14 notifying him of the city’s intentions.
The city’s contract with JCSO calls for 40-hour-per-week coverage within city limits. However, Deputy Cory Krauss, long assigned to Illinois Valley, has been unable to fulfill that obligation. As such, Gilbertson has agreed to refund the original $24,000 requested by the city and an additional $8,000, based on recent actual hours of coverage.
Gilbertson arrived at city hall 30 minutes before the council meeting to answer questions from citizens regarding the matter.
“We don’t have enough people to fill the bill, so we’re not going to charge you,” Gilbertson said. “It wouldn’t be right for us to not give it back to you.”
Gilbertson said that JCSO is making every effort to have a presence in Illinois Valley, but that limited staffing has made it difficult to provide around-the-clock coverage.
“Please bear with us,” Gilbertson said. “We’re doing the best we can.”
During the council meeting, Paulson said that the city could renegotiate the contract if the county’s May 15 public safety levy passes. In the meantime, Paulson said, the $32,000 will go toward repairing equipment at the city’s water and sewer plants.
In another matter, the council agreed to authorize a sewer line extension request by resident Gerald Sommer.
Sommer wants a line to Fir Drive so that he can place a mobile home on his property there, which is located inside the city’s Urban Growth Boundary. He said he would pay $7,000 for the extension, and that the city could use the water line in the future.
As part of his agreement with the city, Sommer will add 250 more square feet to the mobile home to bring it up to city code and allow it to be annexed into the city in three years.
The council also agreed to provide a 90-day extension to James Hughley, owner of property at 126 Caves Hwy., to remove debris and garbage from the premises.
Since August 2000, the city has been sending abatement notices to Hughley, who lives in Alaska. Hughley has been accumulating $500-a-day fines for each day the property remains out of compliance with the city’s nuisance ordinance.
A judgment of $159,132.51 was entered against Hughley in Josephine County Circuit Court on Dec. 27, 2006 and signed by Judge Pat Wolke. On Jan. 27, 2007, an abatement notice was sent to Hughley via certified mail.
On March 26, hours before the council meeting, the city received two phone calls from Hughley. There also was a call and a fax from his attorney requesting a 90-day extension to clean up the property and negotiate a settlement with the city.
The council voted 4-0 to allow the extension. Councilor Margaret Miller was absent.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, Merlin resident Holger Sommer presented a list of questions regarding the procedures followed by the city during the abatement process. A subsequent shouting match broke out between Sommer and Councilor Lynne Atteberry, who felt that Sommer was unfairly criticizing the council.
