Hayden rejects Kootenai County Sheriff's Office contract

The three Hayden City Council members present at Tuesday night's meeting voted not to renew the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office contract as the city’s law enforcement provider for 2027. 

For now, the city has no plan to replace it. 

“We don't need to start a full-fledged police department right off the bat, but maybe something to the effect of an ordinance enforcement department,” Councilmember Ed DePriest said. “The big concerns that people have are primarily traffic issues and animal issues. Things like that aren't really being enforced.”

Councilmember Matt Roetter made it clear his problem was not with the deputies assigned to patrol Hayden, but with Kootenai County Commissioner Bruce Mattare and his white paper outlining contract guidelines for policing between counties and cities. 

Mattare’s vision, Roetter said, would allow counties to bill cities without a police department, or to contract with the county sheriff’s office, for “city-incurred law enforcement services that are in excess of what city taxpayers pay to the county.”

“The Association of Idaho Cities’ attorney has looked at it (Mattare’s white paper) and said it's unlawful,” Roetter said. “Commissioner Mattare said several times the cities are the problem, that they're allowing all this growth and development, while they're not paying their fair share for public safety.”

Roetter said he filed a public records request and asked Kootenai County how much Hayden residents had paid in 2025 to the justice fund, which pays for the county’s jail and patrol. He said the county couldn't provide an answer.

“We’re paying into the justice fund for however long, and they won't give us the numbers,” Roetter said.

DePriest also pushed back against Mattare.

“It appears they're lobbying the state Legislature to create a statute to allow the counties to bill cities for service,” DePriest said. “Well, (the county) isn’t able to give us data that we've been asking for, but in order to bill, they better be able to give you data sent along with the bill.”

Councilmember David Erickson grappled with his decision to vote against accepting the contract with the Sheriff’s Office.

“I wrestle with our responsibility to do what's right and best for the citizens when it comes to making sure we have appropriate safety services,” Erickson said. “And also making sure that we are doing our due diligence advocating on behalf of the amount of money that we're all spending for these services and what we're getting here.”

Roetter added that the city hired Matrix Consulting Group to gather more data to inform its decision on whether to agree to another law enforcement deal with the county. They found that 61.2% of deputy working hours were unaccounted for, a number Hayden was told was extraordinarily high. 

Lieutenant Zachary Sifford said Tuesday night was the first he’d heard of that number, though he explained why some of that time may be unaccounted for.

“A citizen will come up and talk to you, so are we logging that?” Sifford said. “Are we (logging) that we stop by a lemonade stand and say hi to kids? Off of Prairie Avenue, there were young kids selling socks and lemonade, and I stopped and I didn't tell anybody.”

These types of incidents still couldn’t explain that high number of unaccounted-for hours, and Sifford said it needs to be looked into.

The current agreement between Hayden and the Sheriff’s Office expires Sept. 30.

“The county, not the sheriff, has painted us into a quick decision or gapped contract tonight,” Hayden Mayor Alan Davis said.

    Hayden City Councilmember Ed DePriest speaks during a meeting on Tuesday night.
  

    Lieutenant Zachary Sifford speaks to the Hayden City Council on Tuesday.