Babbitt City Council’s regular meeting was preceded by a public safety committee meeting with Ely police chief Chad Houde to discuss working with Ely on Babbitt police coverage.
Babbitt has been struggling to hire a new police chief, and only has two officers working to provide 24/7 coverage for the city.
Houde opened by stating, “The current perception of law enforcement being what it is, and salaries not keeping up with the cost of living, recruitment and retention has been extremely difficult.”
A renewal of a joint powers agreement versus a new kind of contract were debated, but nothing was decided. The Ely city council is ultimately who would make the decision of whether to work with Babbitt on coverage.
Houde and all of his officers are, “all in favor of helping Babbitt out,” but he cannot speak for his city council.
The main concerns of the Ely Council (as Houde understands them) are how much longer the two Babbitt officers plan to remain active, or if they plan on retiring in the next five years; the financial unsustainability of Ely officers driving back and forth to Babbitt to provide coverage; and if an Elybased officer is injured on duty in Babbitt, which city pays for the health expenses.
Babbitt’s city council is concerned with equipment costs and overtime salaries being shared equally between the two cities.
Houde believes that working with Babbitt is in the best interest of both communities, citing that, “Ya know, if you’ve got a guy coming down from Duluth to cover shifts inBabbitt,someonethecommunity doesn’t know, that may lead to more trouble down the road.”
There are also many grant opportunities available from the state when small police departments work together to cover each other, which helps ease the cost burden on each individual town.
The meeting concluded with Houde planning on approaching the Ely council once more with what a contract could look like. However, the committee made it clear that it is still in the information-gathering stage, and no decisions have been made on whether to work with East Range Police Department, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office or Ely PD.
