SANDPOINT — A joint powers agreement to provide law enforcement services to the city of Kootenai was approved by Sandpoint City Council last Wednesday.

“We were funding the majority of the funding for another law enforcement position by Lake Pend Oreille School District … The requirement of the school district was that that school resource officer have a presence and be out providing services at Kootenai Elementary, so that is what’s really created the junction where it made sense to provide law enforcement for the city of Kootenai,” said Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton.

Council members approved a contract with LPOSD in September to expand the SRO program. Sandpoint Police Officer Spencer Smith has served as an SRO for the district since 2014, and the expansion added SPD Officer Dave Giffin to the program.

Under the program, LPOSD provides 60 percent of the annual salary for the two dedicated SROs through the Sandpoint Police Department.

Under the contract with the city of Kootenai, Sandpoint will provide law enforcement services, responding to citizen-driven dispatched calls in addition to the regular SRO presence, as well as proactive patrols focused on traffic concerns and attendance at Kootenai City Council meetings.

The city of Kootenai will pay Sandpoint $40 per call — defined as citizen-driven complaints — as well as a 15-percent administration fee, with the total not to exceed $14,398 per year. Kootenai will not pay Sandpoint for proactive patrols that result in traffic stops, or for attendance at the council meetings.

“What we gained in the whole of this is another law enforcement position for the city of Sandpoint, and with the difference between what the school district pays, the majority of the unfunded cost of that position is now picked up by the city of Kootenai,” Stapleton said.

The additional position also benefits Sandpoint in the summer, when the SRO position is not required, because it gives the city an additional uniformed officer during the peak tourism months that are packed with activities, she said.

“Under other circumstances, from an administrative standpoint, we wouldn’t consider providing law enforcement services to a city that, albeit close, we have another city in between and it is outside our city boundaries, obviously,” Stapleton said.

Semi-monthly reports will be made to the city of Kootenai, and Stapleton said the two cities agreed to try it out for the current fiscal year, after which they will revisit it and look at the numbers to determine if they should extend or revise the agreement.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.