County will stop dispatching for police, utilities Saturday

    Chase County officials plan to hold to their ultimatum that dispatch service for non-emergency Imperial police and city utility calls will be discontinued this weekend.
    Officially, Aug. 10 marks the end of a 30-day timeline set by County Attorney Arlan Wine, on direction from the commissioners, in a letter to city of Imperial officials.
    In that letter dated July 10, Wine set the 30-day timeline if the city did not agree on a $35,000 annual payment to the county for providing dispatch service.
    The city has offered a $10,000 annual payment.
    County Sheriff Kevin Mueller said Wednesday morning that if things don’t change, it’ll probably be Saturday morning sometime when the dispatching will stop for non-emergency police calls and city utility department calls.
    The sheriff’s office will now be the first contact to respond to 911 calls originating within the city of Imperial, Mueller said.
    If by chance the deputy on duty is in another area of the county when a 911 call is received, Mueller said the deputy on call will be contacted.
    All of his deputies live in the city of Imperial, he said.
    He said County Attorney Wine has been corresponding with city officials on the return of the radios being used within the city limits.
    “Do I like this? No,” Mueller said Wednesday.
    “I had hoped the contract would be worked out, but unfortunately it hasn’t gotten to that point,” he said.

To read more on this and other stories, please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. https://etypeservices.com/Imperial%20RepublicanID359/