Commissioners talk jail/dispatch issues

    Much like their counterparts on the Imperial city council, the Chase County commissioners spent a good chunk of their June 25 meeting talking about the proposed jail/dispatch contract between the two entities.
    The city council had met the evening before with Commissioner Jacci Brown in attendance.
    Brown said after working on an agreement with council member Chad Yaw for months, she felt the county was being stonewalled, for lack of a better word. That led County Attorney Arlan Wine to send a letter to council members asking for a response by July 1, the start of the county’s fiscal year, or the county could discontinue dispatch services.
    “We were not trying to be aggressive about it, we were just trying to get somewhere,” Brown said. “I know this raised some eyebrows... but, we got to sit down and actually negotiate it.”
    Brown thought the June 24 council meeting was productive.
    The commissioners were open to the changes proposed by the council members, including:
    The county finding a jail for city prisoners refused by the county jail, rather than the county assisting the city in finding a jail for prisoners the county refuses;
    A five-year contract rather than a one-year contract with 180-day, rather than 90-day, notice of termination;
    And wording cleaned up so the contract would not become null and void if any part is invalid.
    The original contract sent to the city called for a $40,000