Columbia County counters City of Dayton's account of stalled ILA negotiations

DAYTON—On Tuesday of last week, Columbia County Commissioner Ryan Rundell reached out to the Times to present the County’s side of the story regarding talks with the City of Dayton for law enforcement, dispatch, emergency management, and district court services, which have stalled.

The City has said the County has not been negotiating in good faith and has asked the County to enter into mediation to renegotiate the Interlocal Agreement or to draw up a new contract.

Rundell said the County informed the City of the intention to renegotiate the contract in late May, or early June of 2019, for the budget year, 2020. The County presented the City with new terms for the renegotiation of the interlocal agreement in April, of this year.

“We did our best to provide all the information we could and was asked for in the following months, but the City would not respond to our negotiator’s calls or email requests to engage in negotiations. It was only after we stated that we were considering using the arbitration clause in the contract that the City engaged,” he said.

Rundell said the City started engaging with the County a few weeks later and began requesting more information.

He said the County continues to answer pertinent questions from the City but is finding the questioning to be increasingly redundant.

He said the County hopes to negotiate the ILA soon, so the City can continue to be served.

“We have what we believe to be a reasonable and generous offer on the table, and anxiously await either a counteroffer or an acceptance of that offer,” he said.

Meanwhile, the City is being served at 2013 rates for another year, Rundell said.

He said all County departments had spent time and resources on services for the City. For instance, the City has received 61-percent of district court case services, but the County is only requesting the City pay 35-percent of total costs.

Rundell said if it takes mediation to get the City to move forward, the County will happily enter into that.

“The County wants to move forward and will continue to do our best to work with the City in these discussions, but we are growing more skeptical that the City is negotiating in good faith, or negotiating at all,” Rundell said.

“The impasse we find ourselves in is most assuredly, not the desire of the County. We know that the City and County form a natural and symbiotic union, and are eager to work together with as much transparency, as we can,” he said.