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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Tower, Breitung terminate police contract

Form committee to examine options for local law enforcement

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 3/19/21

TOWER— By mutual agreement, the town of Breitung and the city of Tower declared their police contract null and void during a joint session of the town board and the city council held here on …

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Tower, Breitung terminate police contract

Form committee to examine options for local law enforcement

Posted

TOWER— By mutual agreement, the town of Breitung and the city of Tower declared their police contract null and void during a joint session of the town board and the city council held here on Wednesday. The decision takes effect at the end of March.

The two governing bodies also agreed to form a committee to examine the costs of various long-term options, possibly working in concert, to address the area’s law enforcement needs.

For now, both communities are being served by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, which is charged with keeping the peace in the county in areas not otherwise served by local police.

Breitung board chair Tim Tomsich told the joint session, held at the Tower Civic Center, that the town has already taken steps to decommission the Breitung Police Department, handing over guns and assorted paperwork to the sheriff’s office. For now, he said, the department’s evidence locker will remain locked to keep any remaining evidence secure. The moves come in the wake of the March 5 resignation of Dan Nylund as the Breitung police chief, which came on the heels of the resignation of the department’s only other full-time officer in February. Township officials have expressed little interest in rebuilding the department, citing cost and potential liability.

Tomsich stressed the need to nullify the police contract, acknowledging that Breitung wasn’t in a position to meet the 24-hour coverage requirements the agreement requires.  “If we don’t provide 24-7 coverage, we could be in default,” he said. “If we mutually agree, we could nullify the contract at the end of March,” noting that the move would free up both communities to work out a solution for themselves.

As it stood, the contract included a 730-day cancellation notice requirement, a highly unusual provision insisted upon by a previous Tower City Council. That provision would have forced both entities to abide by the contract for another two years— unless one side declared the other in default or both parties agreed to terminate the agreement.

Council member Joe Morin said he favored continued collaboration between the two communities and worried that voiding the contract could upset the longstanding working relationship between Tower and Breitung.

But Breitung officials suggested that the needs of the two communities were different and that any future working agreement would need to take that into account. Tomsich raised concerns about the high cost of the department for Breitung, which has been paying about 15 percent more than the city of Tower to operate the department. He said that if the two communities were to jointly sign an agreement with the St. Louis County Sheriff for local patrols, that a 50-50 split might not be appropriate. Board member Chuck Tekautz suggested that Tower had a greater need for law enforcement than the township because of its business district.

Mayor Orlyn Kringstad, meanwhile, urged the continuation of a community-based police department, managed by Breitung. While acknowledging the high cost, Kringstad said he believed that community policing “is worth the expense.”

After more discussion, Kringstad made a motion calling for the two sides to continue with the existing contract while working out a more equitable cost-sharing arrangement and addressing Breitung’s concerns about liability. But his motion, which could have left the city paying a larger share of the overall cost of operating the Breitung police, died for lack of a second from his council.

Council member Dave Setterberg then motioned to form a committee with representatives from both the city and the township to examine any number of options moving forward and determine the associated costs with each alternative, while taking more time to hear from residents about their feelings on the issue. Setterberg’s motion passed the council unanimously, although not without Kringstad complaining that Setterberg’s motion was identical to the one he had offered moments earlier.

To date, Setterberg said he’s heard from residents who are interested in seeing some level of local patrolling but haven’t expressed a desire that the police be locally based. Morin said he was hearing that other city priorities are seen as important as well. “People who’ve approached me say they want community coverage, but also want our streets fixed and our infrastructure repaired,” he said. The police contract was set to cost the city of Tower $115,000 this year, not including the cost of purchasing a new police car, which the city has typically done once every five years.

Tomsich again stressed the varying needs of the two communities. “I’m hearing in Tower there’s more interest in cutting taxes or improving finances,” he said. “In Breitung, I’m hearing more interest in maintaining a department.”

Tomsich also brought up the failed effort to merge the Tower and Breitung fire departments and worried some of the same differences that led to that breakdown could become a factor again.

Given those concerns, Tomsich made a motion to cancel the contract with the city, which his three-member board then approved unanimously. Setterberg then made the same motion for Tower and the council voted unanimously in favor.

With the contract ended as of the end of the month, Tomsich said he wouldn’t be contacting the sheriff to schedule any joint patrolling by the sheriff’s office in April. “Contacting the sheriff would be up to the city," he said, and suggested that the township might just stick with emergency response only from the sheriff’s office for April, and possibly contracting for more coverage as the area gets busier toward summer.

With the contract issue out of the way, Tomsich asked his board if they were interested in passing their own motion to take part in the committee that the city had approved creating through Setterberg’s earlier motion. “I think that’s the only way to get to the end result,” said Tekautz. “Even if I feel we should go our own way, I would like to have the discussion.”

“I agree,” said board member Greg Dostert, “but I don’t want it to go like the fire department.”

In addition to city and township representation, Setterberg suggested adding some community members to the committee. Both bodies will now have to take the question of representation on the committee back to their next meetings.

Breitung police, Tower