Not enough voters cast a vote to pass a local option levy to support the John Day Police Department in a special election Aug. 17.

According to Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy, the levy received 284 yes votes while 169 voted down the measure in the unofficial results.

A double majority was required with more than 50% of registered voters voting, and more than 50% in favor of passing the measure.

“The returns did not meet the minimum requirement of 50% plus one vote so the measure will not pass,” Percy said.

John Day City Manager Nick Green said in city council agenda documents it was “inconceivable” that residents were unaware of this election or its importance to the police department.

“Nevertheless, over 60 percent of our registered voters declined to exercise their right to vote,” he said, “which is effectively the same as voting ‘No’ as it resulted in the levy not passing.”

The John Day City Council had chosen to pursue a local option levy of 45-50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for five years to fund police.

Green said it would be “fiscally irresponsible” for John Day to continue to fund the department, given the growing budget deficits and lack of support from the community.

He said the city has no other way to shore up the deficits unless they significantly increase housing production in John Day, which would require General Fund revenue to achieve.

Additionally, he said, the city should also honor the community’s majority decision to vote ‘No’ or to abstain from voting on the levy.

He said, given that residents chose not to approve additional local revenue, the city must proceed with dissolving the department.

The department’s transition options

Green said he recommends transition options based on the assumption that the John Day Police Department would be dissolving Dec. 31. He said police staff would be notified of the decision to dissolve the department next week.

During the roughly four-month window before the dissolution, he said the city could discuss with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and Grant County Court whether a law enforcement services agreement would be in the city’s best interest.

Green said the city also applied for a Community Oriented Policing Services grant through the Department of Homeland Security to fund the department $125,000 a year for three years. Green said the city would not know if the grant is approved until roughly October, but if received, the funding would sustain the department for at least four years.

If no agreement is reached with the county and no federal funding is received, Green said John Day would become “like the eight other cities in Grant County and we will receive coverage from the sheriff’s office as required by law beginning Jan. 1.

“Our residents will most likely see a reduction in service and will be dissatisfied with this outcome, but this is what they voted for by not voting at all,” he said.

Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley noted Prairie City has a contract with the county for law enforcement services.

McKinley said, if the city decides to dissolve the police department, the sheriff’s office would absorb the law enforcement services, but strictly on an emergency-only basis.

McKinley said he questions the timeline Green laid out. He said he believed the city would need to provide funds to the county for an additional year by statute.

McKinley said he does not know why the city cannot fund the department.

“They’ve had funding,” he said. “Where did the funding go?”

McKinley said he was not surprised that voters did not pass the levy.

“I knew people were in support of it,” he said, “but I was not surprised it did not pass.”

He said the feedback he received was that people are tired of paying extra taxes and feel Green is wasting money.

For his part, Green said the county has an “unfortunate history” of not honoring their commitments or agreements with the city of John Day and fail to follow through on implementing their ordinances.

He said this includes not following lodging tax ordinance requirements, not pitching in for street improvement projects after committing to do so, and breach of contract of the intergovernmental agreement for managing planning services in the Urban Growth Area per the standards in the city’s code.

“I have no confidence based on their track record that any law enforcement agreement we make will be upheld or enforced by the current court,” he said.

There is simply no guarantee, Green said, that the sheriff’s office can staff the positions and no way for the city to enforce the contract.

COVID-19 relief funds?

Green said the Treasury Department had published an interim final rule for the American Rescue Plan Act on distributing the COVID-19 relief funds. It now allows for provision of police, fire and other public safety services, he said.

However, he said, placing one-time federal funding into the police department does not solve anything.

“It will not address the root cause of our budget issues in the General Fund, which are directly attributed to declining population,” he said. “No amount of funding put into the police department will cause our city to grow.”

Green noted Grant County was the only county in the state to lose population in the recent census.

“This is the fundamental reason why the police department is not financially sustainable in our current condition,” he said. “Until the decline stops and we begin to grow consistently we will not be able to afford these services on our current tax base.”