The first agenda item under new business at Wednesday night’s Ronan City Council meeting caused the council to change the venue from City Hall to the community center for more seating. Since about 70 people showed up, it was a smart move.

Levi Read, undersheriff for Lake County, came to discuss scheduling for the Ronan Police Department, response and availability for calls, and K-9 services. He asked to appear on the agenda because he said he hadn't been able to reach Ronan Police Chief Rob Jacobson to schedule a meeting with him and with the city council.

Reading out loud from a letter he wrote and distributed to council members at the April 26 council meeting, Read quoted Montana House Bill 333, passed in 2025, which amended code 7-32-4101 to revise laws dealing with local law enforcement.

According to Read, “at one point in time, it was understood that in Montana the Sheriff’s office was the preeminent law enforcement of the county and could exercise jurisdiction anywhere within the county to include cities.”

More recently, he writes, “cities have fought to have a certain autonomy from the Sheriff’s office, and I believe the laws reflect this co-jurisdictional thought process. In this bid for autonomy some cities have chosen to only provide law enforcement services part time and argue that the Sheriff’s office is responsible for the remainder of the time.  (The entire letter is available with this story at Leaderadvertiser.com.)

According to the revised law, incorporated cities and towns either must have their own police force (Ronan does), or may “enter into a contract or interlocal agreement, in whole or in part, with a state-recognized local law enforcement agency” to get the job done. The city is also required to pay for those additional services.

According to Read, the Lake County Sheriff currently provides coverage for approximately nine hours a day during the week and 12 hours daily on weekends within the Ronan city limits, or close to 70 hours a week. Read also reported that the sheriff’s office is answering 40% of the city of Ronan’s 911 calls.

Chief Rob Jacobson disputed these numbers and said the LCSO had not sent him the records he requested on hours county deputies spend in Ronan.

Scheduling and dispatch issues

Read also believes scheduling is part of the problem.

According to the undersheriff, three Ronan officers work the same shift on Tuesdays through Thursdays.

"In triplicate they're covering some of the lowest crime hours that there are,” Read said. “And then on Friday nights from midnight till nine in the morning, there's no officer whatsoever. So all we're asking is that those times where officers are out in triplicate be reduced to one or at the most two.”

When Chief Jacobson took a turn at the microphone, he noted that the schedule sometimes lists three officers on duty because two of them are doing administrative work. “We wear a lot of hats, we don't have an investigative division, we don't have any admin support," he said, adding that he is a working chief and takes calls.

The Ronan Police Department is short-staffed, Jacobson said. There are four deputies in the department: Sgt. Smith and officers Botten, Gilliland and Hester. One officer is currently attending the Montana Law Enforcement Academy.

Jacobson said he is constantly searching for additional qualified officers to be hired.

According to Read, another piece of the puzzle was the Ronan chief’s “refusal to check on shift with dispatch,” which sometimes results in dispatch sending an LCSO deputy when Jacobson is available.

As an example, he cited a call received in December at 8:02 a.m. from a woman who said she was being beaten. Dispatch sent an officer out at 8:09 a.m. and then Chief Jacobson called at 8:12 a.m. and said he’d just gotten to the office and would head that way.

Read’s letter also alleges that “the GPS units in the patrol vehicles utilized by Chief Jacobson and Sgt. Smith have been deactivated so that even in an emergency their location cannot be determined by dispatch.” 

“The practical result of this behavior has been that Lake County deputies are forced to respond to calls for service in city limits while Chief Jacobson collects law enforcement wages, but his presence is unknown to all others within the larger law enforcement community,” Read wrote.  

Read’s letter also disputed Chief Jacobson’s documentation of calls for service. According to Jacobson’s records, Ronan initiated 42 calls for service from Lake County in a nine-month period when no RPD officer was available to answer the call, and LCSO only answered 15 of those calls with the rest held until a Ronan officer responded.

“When I wrote this letter, we searched our system, and we found we’d responded to 59 calls in the first three months of 2026 and that number is currently up over 80,” Read said.

“I just felt like there was a miscommunication between what people thought was going on and the actual reality of it. I wanted to provide ample evidence so that people can understand that we’re not being petty about minor issues,” he said. “I am looking out for the welfare of county deputies, and I am looking for the opportunity for law enforcement services for everybody,” Read said, explaining his place on the agenda.

In his letter, Read also noted that himself, Sheriff Bell and the lieutenant of patrol all identify as Ronan community members. “This identity includes children attending Ronan schools, spouses living and working in Ronan and a multi-generational connection to the community,” he wrote.

As to the argument that Ronan taxpayers already contribute to the sheriff’s budget, and shouldn’t have to pay extra for policing, Read countered that “the law clearly states that the money will come from the city funds, not from county funds.” He also noted that because the city is more densely populated, it requires more policing than rural areas “through no fault of its own.”

Where’s the dog?

Another issue brought up was the whereabouts of Ronan’s drug dog, Sandor, which city residents did not remember seeing, nor did LCSO deputies.

"I'm formally requesting that the dog's certifications be made public, the last time the dog was on patrol be reported, the number of hours that the dog worked be reported, and the dog’s last deployment in the city,” Read said.

Chuck Holman of Mission Mountain Holdings noted that he’s only lived in Ronan since 2023 but had never seen a police dog.

“Where’s the dog? Where is it kept?” Holman asked.

“We recently retired the dog,” said Ronan Councilmember Lindsay Myers, adding that he lives at Sgt. Smith’s home near Plains.

"Because he (Sgt. Smith) was in a sergeant position, it did make it a little harder for him to have the dog and use the dog and bring it to work every day, so that's why some of you may not have seen the dog all the time,” said Jacobsen. “We don't pull out our AR or long rifles every time, do we? No."

Holman read a letter from former Ronan Police Chief Allen Corneliusen regarding a 55-mill law-enforcement levy that was narrowly approved by Ronan voters in 2016. According to the letter, its purpose was to expand the police department by one officer, establish a salary ladder, pay for equipment and technology, and recruit a police officer for a “24/7 police department.”

In his letter, Corneliusen noted that Ronan’s mayor is the chief law enforcement administrator of the police department and its officers, including the chief of police.

Ronan community member Dave Liegakos came to the microphone. “My question is what is the point of all this? Is it to come to a resolution so we all have enough cops in the county and the city?”

“I don’t like sitting here listening to everybody pointing fingers, saying you’re doing this wrong and you’re doing this wrong," he added. “What’s the solution?”

Jacobson thanked the crowd for attending and noted that he’s had the pleasure of serving Ronan as chief for four years.

“I’m very proud of my officers. They are here for this city – all in for this community every day. I just wish there were more people here to hear that,” he said. “We’re the best agency we can be with the resources we have.”

Mayor Ryan Corum wrapped up the discussion noting that the council is looking for solutions.  “Just so you guys know, this is something we are working on. This isn’t a brand-new idea that happened today.”

He noted that the county sheriff’s department had first raised the issue in April. “I want results, we are working for results,” he said. “Just know that. Nothing is solved overnight. We need some time to work on this.”

Although it was not discussed at the meeting, the law that Read referenced provides for mediation through the local government center at Montana State University if the two parties can’t come to an agreement over shared costs, and if that fails, binding arbitration.

    “What’s the solution?” asked Ronan resident Dave Liegakos during last week's Ronan Council meeting. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)