John Wilson called me earlier today after reading the post below about Mayor Rinthen rejecting the idea of a county-run Lancaster police force. He told me that he had been discussing the potential for the idea for several weeks with Rinthen, and that Rinthen knew he was going to go public with the idea at Monday’s fiscal court meeting.

“Don has taken a part in this,” he said. “If they reject the idea that’s fine, but there’s no underhanded thing going on here.”

Wilson said he also called every council member he had a cell phone number for (4 of the 5) the Friday before he made the announcement to let them know about the idea. Council members confirmed to me this evening that they had received calls from Wilson about the idea, but that doesn’t mean they discussed it together or had any say in whether it went public.

Judge Wilson’s Facebook page has been lit up with comments about the idea, including some people in support and some (including a Lancaster officer) who are opposed to the police losing their hazardous duty retirement.

Mayor Rinthen just called me to tell me that after talking with the police department, he has come to the conclusion that he is “totally against any takeover of the Lancaster Police Department by the Garrard County Fiscal Court.”

Rinthen said he will do everything in his power for as long as he is mayor to keep the city police department. He was also critical of Wilson for making his idea public before coming to the city council privately.

“To me, it’s a very poor way to handle things,” Rinthen said. “I wish they would have brought it to the council and let the council review it and see if it’s even feasible.”

Rinthen said Wilson’s offer to save the city $100,000 would actually be more expensive in the coming year than what the city has already planned in budget cuts to the police department. Based on the budget proposals given to me by Chief Lamb, the city’s budget for the police department with a staff of eight (11 minus the two most recent terminations, minus the officer who is headed to Afghanistan) will be $638,982 — almost $50,000 less than Wilson’s proposed contract cost.

The headline pretty much sums it up. Today John Wilson told the fiscal court one option for Lancaster, which is facing some tough short-term and long-term financial problems, could be to pay the fiscal court to run police services for the city. Wilson estimated the county could run police services for $100,000 less than it will cost the city this year, based on their 09-10 budget.

The county could save the money because it doesn’t pay its deputies hazardous duty retirement like the city does, Wilson said.

The reaction I got from those around town I talked to about this — Don Rinthen, Chris Davis, Ronnie Wardrip — is probably best described as hesitant. Because it’s just a suggestion — there hasn’t been any conversation or examination of hard numbers by anyone beside Wilson to my knowledge — everyone said they would need to learn more before passing judgment.

It is an interesting suggestion though, especially since Wilson says the county could save that $100,000 for the city while re-hiring the two officers that were just laid off. Chief Lamb has proposed several budgets for his department that could save the city $100,000 or more, but all of those require downsizing the department. I haven’t been able to reach Chief Lamb to talk with him about this, and Wanda Shelton said she’d rather not comment.

Chris Davis didn’t want to say much about the issue because it’s already a tense subject, and the Lancaster police officers have already been through a lot, with terminations in December and March and an uncertain air hanging over the department. He had expected to have more time to discuss Wilson’s suggestion with the rest of the council before it went public.

It’s a valid point that throwing another option into the mix could put more stress on already stressed officers. It’s also true that this option has the potential to provide stability to a department whose chief has been asking for nothing but stability for the past few months.

Wilson wasn’t setting anything in stone this morning — he said the community needed to have a conversation about his suggestion, and then the council could pursue it if it wants to.

As Wilson said when he announced his idea this morning, “the devil is in the details.” All involved parties will likely need many more details before it becomes clear whether this idea could work.

Don Rinthen just called me and told me he has terminated two Lancaster police officers. The terminations are effective Wednesday. Lisa Domidion, the city’s planning and zoning officer, will also be going to part time within the next few weeks.

The terminations are expected to save $40,000 to $50,000 over the remainder of the fiscal year — less than half of the deficit Rinthen has said the city is facing. In order to make up the rest of the budget shortfall, the city council will be discussing the potential of reducing employee benefits or using rainy day funds.

Rinthen told me he is fed up with the behavior of the city council. As an example, he pointed out that the council was unwilling to pass the insurance premium tax increase last night, which would have, by Maggie Morris’ estimation, generated an additional $24,000 for the city. The council members argued that $24,000 wasn’t enough income to justify a tax increase. But then the council approved of Rinthen using terminations to save the city a few ten thousand more than that.

Rinthen said he and others like City Attorney Justin Genco have been warning the council for a year or more about financial issues, but the council never takes any action.

“I don’t know where I can go from here to get it through to a young, young council that we’re sinking,” he said. “I’m tired of recommending things because I’m wasting my time. Sometime between now and October we’re going to have to adjust something. We’ll have to raise something or we’re not going to make it. Doesn’t matter if it’s me or Brenda Powers; the writing’s on the wall.”

Rinthen said he thinks to truly solve the city’s budgetary problems, a 1-percent increase in the municipal insurance tax is one thing that is needed. Rinthen said the council seems to want to increase Lancaster’s alcohol tax, which would only drive more business out of the community, especially if Danville votes to go wet today (which Rinthen said he expects to happen).

I’ll be talking to council members and Chief Lamb today, and will try to update on here.

Rinthen has not revealed how many city employees will be terminated or from which departments, but he was planning on meeting with department heads this morning. I was originally expecting to know the specifics by 9 a.m., but now I’m hoping to know by about 10:15.

Today’s Advocate will have a story about the terminations as well as a story about Wendell Johnson and other Deer Run residents who are opposing the new walking path plan. Wednesday’s Advocate will have a story about the city council voting down an insurance premium tax increase and discussing 911 re-addressing of the city.

The city council passed a resolution tonight recommending terminations as part of budget reductions. Mayor Rinthen said he would be announcing terminations in the morning. It was a busy city council meeting, and many different issues were raised.

For one, this was Jimmy Crutchfield’s last city council meeting. He said he has never been a quitter, but his health has deteriorated (he suffers from lung cancer) to the point that he cannot serve on the council anymore. He asked the council again to consider a smoking ban, warning them that failing to do so could put it on their shoulders when someone gets lung cancer due to second-hand smoke. Crutchfield did not hang around for the fireworks that came after the council recommended terminations.

The council recommended using terminations as a way to get the budgetary problems under control, but it did not specify who would be fired from which departments. The mayor is actually who has the power to fire and hire employees, meaning Rinthen will be informing the department heads of the terminations in the morning.

Chief Lamb and some police officers including Assistant Chief Wanda Shelton had attended the meeting expecting to hear a verdict tonight. When the council did not provide specifics, but instead moved on toward adjourning, Lamb stood up and gave the council and Rinthen a piece of his mind.

“When is this going to come out though? You’ve got to tell me something to operate this department. If you’ve terminated my officers, let me know,” he said. “If that’s the way it’s going to be you don’t have to worry about laying off one — you’ve done lost one tonight.”

City Attorney Justin Genco and Lamb went back and forth a little, with Genco saying the council cannot publicly discuss personnel issues from an executive session and Lamb demanding to know where his department stands.

Lamb went back and sat down after a minute or two, and the city council adjourned.

Lots of other stuff happened too, including some controversy about the proposed walking path in south Lancaster. More posts to follow tomorrow, and boku stories in the paper.

Ben Chandler will be at the Sunset Marina today at 10 a.m. to announce $100,000 in environmental improvement funding for Garrard and four other counties (Lincoln, Madison, Estill and Clark). Chandler and Bluegrass PRIDE are announcing the grants.

Garrard is getting $20,000 of the money. I know Garrard County will be receiving $20,000 from Bluegrass PRIDE for the walking trail the fiscal court is installing in south Lancaster, which could be what this announcement is about.

I have a story in today’s paper about how the local Red Cross chapter that handles Garrard and Lincoln counties is short on funding and in need of financial help. You can read the story here, but here are the main details:

The Red Cross is running out of money to help people with food, clothes and shelter after a home fire. It needs an estimated $5,000-$8,000 to make it through June and into its new fiscal year. You can donate by calling (859) 623-1336 and using your credit card or mailing cash or a check to:

The Daniel Boone Chapter of the Red Cross, P.O. Box 1478, Richmond, KY, 40476. If you designate your donation for Garrard County, all of it will go back to Garrard County.

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Garrard and Lincoln counties may be teaming up on solid waste coordination and a jail. Todd Kleffman had a story in yesterday’s paper.

The new Garrard Animal Shelter Web site is up and running at www.garrardanimals.com. It’s a nice looking site, and it’s very helpful if you’re looking for a pet.

I got this e-mail from Jeremy Blansett, a case worker for the Red Cross, forwarded to me by Karla Sefcak. I’m working on a story for the paper, but it looks like the Red Cross’ presence in Garrard County is uncertain because of a lack of funding.

If anyone knows someone in Garrard who received help from the Red Cross after a fire or something like that, I’d like to talk to them for the story. You can e-mail me if you know of someone.

From Jeremy’s e-mail:

Ok guys and gals, I have asked for help before but this time I really need either need ideas or help. As most of you guys know I am a caseworker for The Daniel Boone Chapter of The American Red Cross. As it currently stands we could be ending or reducing services in these counties if something is not done. We are trying to raise 5,000 in each county. I know just as well as you all do the economy is NOT HEALTHY, but we have to do something. Right now as it stands we only have 500.00 a month in Lincoln county and NO MONEY to spend in Garrard. If we have a fire we will have to either refer of just be a shoulder to cry on.  I need fundraising ideas quickly and then help to pull them off. If anyone has any questions or ideas please call me ASAP to discuss them. MARCH is RED CROSS month and our hereos campaign which is our biggest fundraiser for the chapter for the years I need help raising money in these counties or we will END ALL SERVICES VERY VERY SOON. I would really like to get the schools involved somehow. Please let me know ASAP with ideas.