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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Tower council rejects move to suspend on-call police coverage

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 2/4/21

TOWER— The city council here, at a special meeting on Monday, rejected on a two-two vote a move by Breitung Township to suspend on-call police coverage for the months from February through …

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Tower council rejects move to suspend on-call police coverage

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TOWER— The city council here, at a special meeting on Monday, rejected on a two-two vote a move by Breitung Township to suspend on-call police coverage for the months from February through April— but it’s unclear if the decision will ultimately matter.
Under the township’s police contract with the city, Breitung retains the right to manage personnel hours for the township’s officers. The town board greenlighted the staffing reduction at their own board meeting last week but did so after hearing from Tower Mayor Orlyn Kringstad that he was approving the change on behalf of the city via executive order. He acknowledged at Monday’s special meeting that he lacked the authority to make such a decision on behalf of the council.
“They could do it themselves under the contract,” noted Kringstad, but said township officials preferred to act with consensus from the city. The township eliminated on-call service during the same three months last year, as a cost-saving move, which saved both the city and township about $500 a month each. St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded during periods when no Breitung police officer was on duty. The city council approved the township’s staffing reduction at that time with no controversy.
At least two councilors had concerns this time around. Councilors Joe Morin and Dave Setterberg both questioned the call volume during the period and wondered how many complaints went to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office rather than the Breitung police during that same period last year.
“For $500 a month, to have one real emergency response go unmet, would be tragic,” said Morin. “I’m a big supporter of having local law enforcement,” he said.
Clerk-Treasurer Victoria Ranua said the township hadn’t provided much information about the impact of last year’s staffing adjustment, done during what is normally a slow period for the Breitung police.
“I don’t know if we got any complaints,” said Kringstad.
Setterberg seemed to question the purpose of Monday’s special meeting, which Kringstad called for the sole purpose of addressing Breitung’s request. “It’s their call,” Setterberg said. “I’ll support them, but it doesn’t really matter what we do and I don’t have any information on which to make a decision.”
Morin agreed and when Ranua called the roll after Kringstad motioned to approve the township’s action, he voted no. Councilor Kevin Norby voted to support the township, but when Setterberg joined Morin in opposition, the motion went down to defeat. Councilor Sheldon Majerle was not in attendance at the meeting.
The council could still reconsider the issue at their regular meeting, set for Monday, Feb. 8.
Missed deadline
The council’s special meeting was the first consequence of the city’s new schedule for council agenda and packet preparation, which requires items for council meetings be provided to the clerk-treasurer at least seven business days ahead of the meeting. Breitung Board Chair Tim Tomsich had submitted his request to be on the city’s Jan. 25 council meeting on Jan. 15, but that was one day late so his request would normally have gone to the council on Feb. 8.
Instead, Kringstad called the special meeting solely to address that issue, originally for Jan. 29. That was subsequently changed to Feb. 1 to meet posting requirements of the Open Meeting Law.