SAUGATUCK, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – One Lakeshore city went in one direction when the question of maintaining a local police department came up, while another is apparently taking a different path.
During yesterday’s work-study session, the Saugatuck City Council received a 62-page report from a special Police Services Advisory Working Group recommending that a 20-year contract with neighboring Douglas for a joint police department not be renewed. In its conclusion, the group pointed to several factors, including an annual cost savings of nearly 221 thousand dollars; a 2013 voter rejection of a proposed consolidation of Saugatuck, Douglas and Saugatuck Township into a single, metropolitan government; and differing policing philosophies between the two communities. In recommending that Saugatuck retain the Allegan County Sheriff’s Department for police services, the group cited factors such as improved service, a greater community presence, better accountability and cost-effective management.
Council will formally accept the report during Monday’s business meeting, and a vote on ending the agreement with Douglas should come on February 26, three days before Saugatuck contractually has to notify its neighbor of its intention to renew or end the deal.
In December, the Zeeland City Council voted to keep an independent police department and not contract out services with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department, in accordance with public sentiment; the issue there came up after the summer retirement of long-time Police Chief Bill Olney.
