Uintah County Commissioners are considering a security contract for the Sheriff’s Office with Simplot mine. A proposal from Simplot mine was presented during
Monday’s
Commission meeting that would contract with the Sheriff’s Office to patrol the company’s fence lines during the general elk and deer seasons. Simplot proposed to contract 3 officers per day for 12 hour shifts at $30 an hour. $25.50 of that would go to the officer and $4.50 cents would go to the county to offset costs plus Simplot would pay $2 per mile traveled. Brad Horrocks, whose name will be on the upcoming election ballot for Uintah County Commissioner, asked why the county is in the “private security business?” Commissioner Mike McKee agreed, stating that the role of government is to do what private enterprise can’t or won’t do. Commissioner Mark Raymond emphasized that this is not unusual for law enforcement and not something new locally. Uintah County Attorney Jonathan Stearmer said the issue is “a little gray on both sides”. Stearmer pointed out that there is a strong public purpose for patrolling areas where people have shown through past actions that criminal activity can be expected. “Sometimes there are companies willing to pay the county extra money to offset that cost because those calls will come in and deputies will get called there…so then there is an overall public benefit to [patrolling],” shared Stearmer. Commissioner McKee suggested that if Simplot cannot find a private firm to provide the service then they should bring the proposal back to the county for consideration. No action was taken on the agenda item due to no motion.
