ALBEMARLE — The looming contract between the town of Oakboro and the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for police protection remains open-ended following the recent Stanly County Board of Commissioners meeting.
After a series of officer resignations this year, the Oakboro Police Department is down to just two officers as some local officials are advocating for the sheriff’s office to take over policing duties within the town.
On Monday night, the commissioners held a public comment forum and reviewed a preliminary law enforcement agreement that would potentially authorize a team of eight members — one sergeant, six deputies, and one school resource officer — to create an Oakboro Division of the SCSO.
The full contract of four years and nine months was set to begin on Oct. 8 and continue through June 30, 2029
However, the board opted to hold off for now, voting 6-1 to table the decision of approving the contract until the Oakboro Board of Commissioners can review the contract to possibly make changes at its next scheduled meeting on Oct. 21.
Commissioner Trent Hatley was the lone nay vote, indicating he was ready to vote on the law enforcement agreement as it currently stood.
Addressing Stanly County Sheriff Jeff Crisco, Vice Chairman Mike Barbee stated that he could see both sides of the issue and that he would prefer for the contract to be further analyzed with a modified timeframe.
“I’m reluctant to go into any kind of long-term contract with anyone since the town of Oakboro has had a police department since day one,” Barbee said. “From what I understand from them, the people in Oakboro would rather keep the police department. I can understand that, but I also understand that they need police protection, which you can give them for now. I just don’t want to get stuck in a position where it’s going to be lifetime.”
Commissioner Patty Crump said she would like to see some “tweaking of the language” in the contract regarding the vehicles and equipment that the Oakboro Division of the SCSO would use, and whether it would belong to the sheriff’s office or town of Oakboro once a new police department was established.
Chairman Bill Lawhon added that he supported the sheriff’s office taking over in Oakboro if necessary but that he wanted more comprehensive research into the specifics of the contract.
“I hate to say it, but folks living in Oakboro only have two police officers right now. In order to hire the police officers you need, it’s going to take a while,” Lawhon said. “It’s not the commissioners’ authority to decide whether Oakboro has a police department or not. That’s your town board and the citizens that support the town board to make those decisions. Our decision will be whether or not we take action on this contract or not.”
At a special-called meeting at Oakboro Town Hall on Aug. 27, the Oakboro Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to enter contract negotiations with the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for police protection inside the town.
Just four months earlier, That same month, the Oakboro commissioners had voted 3-2 to move forward with the Oakboro Police Department, advertising a call to hire a police chief and other officers as Jason Eschert was named as the town’s interim police chief.
The commissioners are set to hold their next regular meeting on Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. inside the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at Stanly County Commons.