Washtenaw County board agrees to Ypsilanti Township's request to eliminate 7 deputies

Commissioner Jeff Irwin was the lone no vote, but the board largely agreed with him in saying a policy on how to deal with similar situations must be established.

“This is likely going to set a pattern and others are going to come in and diminish their public safety,” Irwin said.

Ypsilanti Township will soon have seven fewer deputies on patrol.

Commissioner Ken Schwartz concurred it could set a precedent and called voting for the amendment a difficult decision.

“We might be going down a slippery slope here,” he said. “I think it’s a one time deal.”

Several commissioners said the decision was made slightly easier by the fact that all seven deputies would be reassigned instead of laid off. But they recognized the scenario might be different next time a municipality comes to the county asking to change the terms of its contract.

Ypsilanti Township has been hit particularly hard by GM closing its Willow Run plant and a higher than average drop in property values. Voters rejected the four-year, 2-mill tax levy put before them on the November ballot.

Several commissioners said they heard Ypsilanti Township planned to put a new millage before voters in August, but no township officials were available to confirm that was under consideration.

Others questioned why Ypsilanti Township isn’t paying for the deputies out of its general fund and pointed to the stress that taking any deputies off the streets will put on law enforcement as a whole in the county.

“We know that proactive policing has a much better impact than reactive,” Commissioner Conan Smith said. “Our capacity to do proactive work across the county is going to be diminished right away."

He added he thought public safety should be more of a priority with the Ypsilanti Township board.

“I don’t agree with their prioritization, but I do think we have a responsibility to respect their decision,” he said.

Sheriff Jerry Clayton said he's glad the county is allowing the township to amend the contract to pay for 31 deputies, and said he's looking at it as an opportunity to examine how police services are delivered in Washtenaw County.

“This decision just really accelerated a conversation I wanted to have,” he said.

He also said he was concerned not enough attention has been paid to policing in the short and long-term, and he was pleased no one got laid off.

“If you take those officers off that streets, that increases the pressure on those who remain,” he said. "I don’t care what uniform you are wearing, we have to think about the Washtenaw County community as a whole.”

Washtenaw County Administrator Bob Guenzel echoed Clayton, and said the sheriff’s department and county need to sit down and address the concerns as soon as possible.

“The challenge for us is in the long run is if you diminish the amount of police services, it’s going to make sheriff’s job a lot tougher," Guenzel said.

Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.