ELDRED — At this month’s meeting, held Monday, the Eldred Borough Council addressed and clarified the recent disbandment of the Otto-Eldred Joint Police Force.
President Dan Plummer, who also served on the now-defunct police board, voiced concern over the numerous calls and queries from borough residents pertaining to the terms and conditions of the agreed dissolvement. Mayor Andy Lathrop, also an ex-police board member, agreed that there is some misunderstanding and uncertainty and both men wanted to set the record straight.
Reviewing the original contract, the recent agreement to disband, and the Era articles covering Otto supervisors’ last two meetings, Plummer reiterated the stipulation that everything in the police department — vehicles, equipment, funds and expenses — be divided equally. This is happening, but it is a process and will require legal counsel.
Plummer stated, “Unfortunately, the joint venture reached a point where it was no longer feasible to continue. The police board realized that fact and voted unanimously to dissolve it. Going forward, all we (Eldred) want is to finalize the procedure and move on. All agreed on a 50/50 split. And since Otto is in the process of re-forming their own force, I would think the sooner this is done, the better.”
Years ago, when Ethan Allen employed hundreds and both the borough and the Otto communities of Rixford and Duke Center all had grocery stores, multiple gas stations and other businesses and the swimming pool at the Otto Park was THE place to be, both governments had their own police force — full-time officers, and their own vehicles — and patrolled regularly. As time and other factors eliminated jobs and reduced the population, the police departments, like other entities, were gradually, but noticeably, reduced year by year.
Out of necessity and cooperation, the Otto-Eldred Joint Police Force was established in 2004, with a three-person board, since expanded to five (2019). From its inception, it was a struggle to get qualified officers willing to work under the restricted hours and wages necessarily instituted due to budgetary limits.
Unsuccessful at maintaining a force of part-time officers, the board attempted to secure a full-time officer in 2021. Two qualified candidates interviewed, and both declined the position. In December 2021, the board resigned to the fact that providing the manpower necessary to effectively police both areas to the people’s satisfaction was untenable. At December’s meeting, the board unanimously agreed to make necessary budget cuts when Otto supervisor Erik Barton presented the police board with a budgetary adjustment resulting in substantially reduced police funding. The board was then looking at a police “force” with a ten-hour per week on-duty officer. Both sides saw the inevitable, and at the January meeting the Eldred Borough Council voted unanimously to no longer be a partner, resorting to having the Pennsylvania State Police as their law enforcement go-to. (A practice, it’s noted, that neighboring Eldred Township and other nearby municipalities have relied upon for years.)
At February’s police meeting, Barton stated that Otto will “have a police force as long as I am supervisor,” and at their February meeting, Otto Township supervisors voted unanimously to re-form their own police force. This will provide local law enforcement, but at the price of an upcoming increase in local taxes.
