WALLACE — Shoshone County and the city of Mullan are expected to renew their joint powers agreement following a meeting this week at the Shoshone County Courthouse.

Mullan City Councilman Tjell Truesdell met Wednesday with Shoshone County Sheriff Shawn Wehr, Undersheriff Travis Skinner and Commissioners Jeff Zimmerman and Melissa Cowles to discuss the agreement.

The proposed agreement is largely a continuation of the existing arrangement, with a modest increase. Under the current contract, Mullan pays $12,000 annually to the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office for services beyond those mandated by state law. The new agreement would run for one year and include a 2.8% increase.

In June, Wehr and Skinner met with the commissioners to discuss the situation. Under the current $12,000 annual agreement, Mullan pays about $33 per day for law enforcement services, but the contract does not guarantee a minimum number of patrol hours.

County officials said the sheriff's office responds to hundreds of calls in Mullan each year, with response costs estimated at $80 per hour when wages, fuel and equipment are factored in.

During that June meeting, officials suggested increasing the annual payment to $20,000, or about $56 per day. No decision was made, and county officials said they wanted to work with Mullan to find a solution. However, no Mullan representatives attended the meeting, and city officials, including Truesdell, said they felt blindsided after reading about it in the newspaper.

"It started with the News-Press article, and as everyone is well aware, if we're going to be talked about, we'd like to be in the room," Truesdell said.

Truesdell said the city wants to continue working with the sheriff's office, but the current $12,000 payment is near Mullan's financial limit, though there may be room for small increases.

"We're pretty excited with the relationship with the sheriff's office," he said. "We do not have the tax base, nor the individuals to support anything internally ourselves. The city of Mullan feels really strongly that where we're at right now that the $12,000 supplement that we're doing for the joint powers agreement is where we need to be."

Wehr addressed concerns stemming from the June meeting, saying it was not intended to exclude Mullan but was part of the new administration's effort to review existing agreements and ensure they remained current.

Skinner, who has worked closely with Truesdell on the issue, said he has a personal stake in the relationship as a Mullan resident.

"We appreciate our relationship with Mullan," Skinner said. "I need this relationship to work because I'm invested in Mullan. I think we provide a good service."

In Idaho, a county sheriff is the primary law enforcement authority in unincorporated areas and must provide core services such as preserving the peace, responding to crimes and emergencies, making arrests, serving court orders and enforcing state laws in cities that do not maintain their own police departments.

According to Truesdell, both sides have agreed to the proposed JPA, which must now be approved and signed by the commissioners before it takes effect. Because the matter was not listed as an action item on this week's agenda, the board is expected to consider it next week.