The town of Walden’s contract with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is up for renewal at the end of the current fiscal year June 30, and town officials have concerns they want addressed.
At the May 13 regularly scheduled meeting, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen discussed with police representatives their ability to ticket perpetrators of certain offenses.
Police officials said they cannot ticket people for certain town codes that are specific to Walden.
Vice Mayor Bill Trohanis used the example that drivers have been parking illegally on the street in the Falling Water Trail area, but Sheriff’s Office officials said they cannot ticket those drivers.
“They’re saying because it’s a town ordinance and not a state law they cannot take it to sessions court,” Town Recorder Fern Lockhart said in a follow-up interview.
Police representatives also said the town might need to create a special citation book for the officers who patrol the town with the specific Walden codes to be enforced. That would also require that the town hold its own municipal court instead of sending those offenders to the county’s sessions court.
“We have in the contract that they are to enforce our municipal codes, but they are saying it is not their responsibility,” Mayor David Epperson said after the meeting. “I think it’s a communications issue more than anything. I think it’s something we’ll be able to work through with the sheriff.”
Epperson said Walden’s town attorney and the sheriff’s attorney plan to meet to discuss the issue further.
The contract with the Sheriff’s Office is up for renewal every three years, said Lockhart.
The town has budgeted $179,800 for the Sheriff’s Office in the FY 2014-2015 budget. The budget passed on first reading by caption at the May 13 regularly scheduled meeting. It will be up for second reading at the June 10 regularly scheduled meeting.