By MELISSA MOODY
The Clark County Sheriff’s Department will soon take over policing duties in Utica.
Town Marshal H. Melvin Rumpel, 68, is retiring, and rather than hire another marshal, Town Board President Hank Dorman said it makes more sense to contract with the county sheriff’s department for police protection.
“It’s a small community, and to hire another marshal, we have to pay them to go to the (police) academy,” Dorman said. “We have quite a bit of turnover and we’re on a small budget.”
Dorman said it is more cost effective for the town to contract with the sheriff’s department than to pay a marshal’s salary and send them to training.
“It will alleviate budget problems and keep policing the community,” he said.
The town will pay a sheriff’s deputy $15,000 a year — $5,000 less than a town marshal, on top of the deputy’s county salary. The town also will provide the car and gas for the deputy, as it does for the town marshal.
The officer would work 40 hours a week — the town and the sheriff’s department won’t pay overtime — and likely will schedule reserve officers to work when the deputy isn’t on duty, said Sheriff Danny Rodden.
He said it will be similar to the situations that deputies are in at New Washington and Henryville schools. The officers are stationed at the schools, but also provide protection and assistance in the surrounding areas as needed.
The town also recently purchased a Ford Focus to replace an older police vehicle. The Focus cost about $13,000 — including the cost to equip it with police gear — and it was paid for with funding from the drug and alcohol court. The town also plans to use a Ford Crown Victoria it already owned.
The town board signed an interlocal agreement with the county to contract with the Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday. Rodden said he expects a deputy will be stationed in Utica by the first of November.
