At its April 17 meeting, Libby City Council voted to approve a new memorandum of understanding with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. The city council passed the memorandum unanimously, intending to ease the county's policing workload.
The county has aided the city's remaining police force, currently one officer, after the resignation of four officers and the firing of Chief Scott Kessel between November 2022 and April 2023. The new memorandum will supersede the last memorandum with the county, Mayor Peggy Williams said in the meeting.
"We have reached a point where they can no longer provide enough people. As summer comes in people want to take vacations," Williams said.
This memorandum will allow the county to continue to provide services to the city, Williams said.
During the public comment period, resident DC Orr asked the council how much the memorandum would cost the city. City attorney Dean Chisholm informed Orr the public comment period was not a question-and-answer period.
City Administrator Sam Sikes didn't provide figures, but said the city was still in line with the fiscal year 2022-23 budget.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office was trying to fill all of the city's shifts with overtime shifts, Sikes said.
"Time off is very important," Sikes said. "You can only put so much overtime on people before they literally burn out."
The county already has people on patrol, Sikes said. So, instead of paying one person complete overtime, the city will pay a wage...
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