Moroni contracts with North Valley Public Safety Dept.

MORONI—The Moroni City Council has voted to contract with the North Valley Public Safety Department for police services and to discontinue its contract with the Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office.

Based on the demeanor of council members at a meeting Thursday, March 19, the change was a big decision, but in the end the vote was unanimous.

Under an interlocal agreement approved at the meeting, Moroni will pay North Valley more than it has paid the Sheriff’s Office but will receive more patrol coverage as well as ancillary services the Sheriff’s Office didn’t provide, such as animal control and enforcement of non-criminal city ordinances, such as nuisance ordinances.

Starting out, Moroni will pay significantly less than Mt. Pleasant and Fairview, the cities that got together about a year ago to set up the regional police department.

Consequently, while the mayors of Mt. Pleasant and Fairview, plus a council member from each city, sit on the board that governs the department, Moroni, for now, will simply contract for services and won’t have a decision-making role.

At the March 19 meeting, Steve Grey, chief of the North Valley department, said he hoped one or more Moroni representatives would attend board meetings. “We would love you to be full members,” he said. “I know it’s going to be hard, and it’s going to take some time to get there. We can start in that direction.”

The Sheriff’s Office has been providing two deputies, 40 hours per week apiece, with their time split between Fountain Green and Moroni. Grey said to his knowledge, that has averaged 5 hours per day per town.

At a work meeting March 10, a couple of weeks before the council vote, Moroni council members aired some of the concerns they had with Sheriff’s Office services, including lack of a visible police presence in the city, lack of traffic enforcement in school zones and on Main Street, and the absence of city ordinance enforcement.

At the work meeting, Grey outlined 12 services the North Valley department could provide, many of which were not being provided by the county.

Besides animal control and ordinance enforcement, they included presence at community events; a 6-7 week Citizen’s Academy to inform interested citizens about police work and recruit volunteer assistants; an officer at every city council meeting to provide security and answer questions; access to a detective; access to a canine unit; use of a crime scene trailer with forensic tools; and DARE or a related program at Moroni Elementary School.

The chief added that the Sheriff’s Office and North Valley officers work well together on major calls. He said he hoped the time the Sheriff’s Office had provided to Moroni City would be continued in service to the larger north county.

Later, at the city council meeting, Grey said North Valley would open a new officer position to serve Moroni. “We’ve already got three applicants,” he said.

While the interlocal agreement provides for a minimum of 40 hours per week of coverage, Grey told the city council, “We’re planning to put in extremely more hours. We’ve created a schedule that will allow two officers (to be on duty) at all times.” He said officers on duty at any given time could gravitate among the three cities as needed.

Moroni has been paying approximately $125,000 per year for Sheriff’s Office coverage.

North Valley will take over coverage of Moroni on April 1. Moroni will pay $32,500 for the three months from April through June.

For the 2026-27 fiscal year beginning July 1, Moroni will pay $150,000 but will also turn over a police truck dating from when it had its own police department. The truck is valued at about $30,000.

In the next fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027 and continuing for two years until July 1, 2029, Moroni will pay $180,000. The contract will be up for renewal July 1, 2029. However, either party may terminate the agreement at any time with six months’ notice.

“There are a lot of pluses with doing this,” Councilman Thayne Atkinson said. “We for sure have the amount of money to cover this (for this year). “Next year (when the charge goes up to $180,000), we’ll have to look at it.”

But later in the meeting he said, “Reality tells me that number ($180,000) will be good for a couple of years.”

There was considerable discussion at the council meeting about whether raises the department would need to give officers to keep pay competitive would force an increase in the contract charge.

Gray said he tries to base raises on what the cities are giving all of their employees. He said he anticipated a 4 percent raise in the next fiscal year.

The chief told the city council that with more frequent traffic patrols and more intensive crime enforcement, Moroni could expect more revenue from traffic and court fines.

“I always tell cities, don’t base your budget on that, but it is a factor,” he said. “We’ve seen a 30 percent increase” in Mt. Pleasant and Fairview.

Councilwoman Cherrie Green said the local department would offer a more personal touch. “I just think it’s important, and I’ve told you that, for our kids to get to know officers, not just on duty but on a different level, because that’s going to build trust,” she told Gray. “That’s some of the kinds of things I’ve seen with you that I really like.”