Davenport City Council tied on police vote

DAVENPORT – A vote on Davenport re-establishing its own police force was tied at last week’s city council meeting, as one council member who would have broken the tie was absent fighting area wildfires. Therefore, the motion to create a new police department failed.

The vote decided if the city should no longer contract for police services with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, an arrangement that costs the city $315,000 a year. Since 2002, Davenport has contracted with the Sheriff’s Office for services including responses to calls, jail and dispatch services.

City officials had said they were unhappy with the lack of service they were receiving from the Sheriff’s office and asked the sheriff to dedicate one of the three deputies available each shift to the City of Davenport.

A potential solution that was being explored was for the City of Davenport to re-start their own police department that would be comprised of a chief and a reserve officer dedicated to the city.

In the end, the decision was met with a tied vote, meaning the proposal to create a new police department failed at the Sept. 9 meeting.

Three council members: Patrick Katz, Lance Strite and Heath Becker voted for having the City of Davenport establish their own police department and three other council members, Theresa Telford, Nathan Hansen and Cory Hollis voted against. Council member Chris Ruiz, who would have cast the deciding vote, was absent from the meeting due to fighting wildfires.

However, as of Tuesday morning, Lincoln County Sheriff Wage Magers said he met with two council members of the police advisory committee and a tentative contract agreement has been reached.

“We have a proposed contract that will be presented to the full city council,” Sheriff Magers said. “I am excited that the police committee and the sheriff’s department were able to work out a tentative agreement and am confident that we can move forward with a long term four year contract.”