No movement in Moose Lake on police future

City of Moose Lake staffers set out 100 chairs in city council chambers Wednesday for a public hearing on policing, and each one was needed to hold the crowd.

On tap: deciding whether to keep the city's police department intact, or disband it and contract with the Carlton County Sheriff's Office to provide the city's law enforcement.

"When you start taking anything away from the city, you're not going to get it back again," said Doug Probst, whose sentiment was shared throughout the hearing.

Temperatures rose in the room from the collective body heat, but tempers were nonexistent in what was a respectful two hours of debate, featuring numerous citizens both asking questions and testifying - mostly on behalf of the city's police force.

City councilors thanked the attendees for their participation and police officers for their service, but delayed voting on the issue. Instead, they moved the vote to the 4 p.m. Feb. 14 meeting, in part, because one councilor, Kris Huso, was absent after surgery.

Councilors Doug Juntunen, a one-time sheriff's deputy, Walter Lower and Greg Sarvela, and mayor Ted Shaw, listened intently, and gave commentary at the conclusion that illustrated the weight of the decision ahead of them.

"This is hard," Sarvela said.

"We're not in a fun situation and neither are you," said Juntunen, who recited small towns in the state which have lost their departments due to budget constraints similar to what's confronting Moose Lake.

"We need to find an affordable solution that allows us to be able to have funding for all of our other budgets," added Lower, who said deferred maintenance on the city's roads, water and sewer lines extends out to 200 years of projects at a one-every-three-years pace.

It was just one detail confronting a city that sees one-third of its property owners fund 100 percent of the levy, due to the outsized amount of nontaxable state, school, hospital and church property taking up the city's landscape.

A full-time, 24/7 police force of four officers and a chief was already taken out of the 2024 budget. The city is instead operating with two officers and a chief and part-time office assistant at a cost of $687,850 - already the largest portion of a $1.03 million levy. To reach its heyday of 24/7 coverage would require a 20-percent increase in the levy, Shaw said.

Hands shot up in a straw poll of community members willing to pay that, but by then emotions were ruling the day. The cold reality was that the Sheriff's Office could dedicate four deputies to work out of the police station for $544,720.

The sheriff's proposal still would not leave coverage for shifts in conflict with deputies' vacations, sick time and other time off, Sheriff Kelly Lake told the crowd. New deputies would need to be hired and trained. Lake explained that being in town would mean response times equivalent to the police's - a trait noted several times by residents. Lake said they'd serve the community.

"You would get to know them," she said. "You would see them around schools, you would see them around businesses. You would see them around the community."

If dissolved, the city's current officers would be guaranteed an interview with the county, Lake said. Were there to be a shooting, like the one in Cloquet on Jan. 8, the Moose Lake deputy on duty would not leave the city, Lake said. But city deputies would not necessarily respond to Moose Lake Township calls either. Not unless it was a crisis-level call.

Several former Moose Lake police officers spoke, including Dale Heaton, retired state trooper who long ago was an 11-year chief of the Moose Lake PD. He feared losing the hometown touch. But like a lot of others, he seemed to understand the budget figures.

"It boils down to you can only afford to do what you can afford to do," Heaton said.

Osten Berg retired from the Moose Lake PD and spent 37 years in law enforcement. He favored maintaining a police force. He knew when residents got a new car, the dynamics of families and where domestic issues were a red flag.

He also said he trusted Sheriff Lake.

"If she puts it together, I know it's a good deal," he said.

Residents feared losing control of decision making, and an attractive budget proposal increasing under future county boards and future sheriffs.

Dan Doty, retired from the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office, said he worked as a contracted deputy for the city of Aurora.

"In my experience, it worked well," he said.

Under either proposal, the city will be responsible for $120,000 in duty disability insurance, paid out to officers who have left the department. Lower called that a whole department in itself, for which there is no state relief.

The reason the Sheriff's Office could present a budget lower than the city's current force was overhead costs associated with operating a forcec, explained city administrator Ellissa Owens.

"It's an honor to witness the dedication and passion," of residents, she said.