By Sara QuamThe new Law Enforcement Study Committee met for the first time Monday to organize and set an agenda. The committee isn’t getting county government participation for now.Steve Perkins was elected chairman and Ed Elbers was elected vice-chair.Luverne City Administrator Greg LaFond attended part of the meeting. "It’s your committee to run and to come to the city with a recommendation on what we should do," LaFond said. "I do not want my biases to interfere. We are looking for a mechanism to provide fair funding of law enforcement with accountability."Former Luverne Police Chief Keith Aanenson approached the city about forming the committee.Aaneson said, "My main reason for bringing it up was to try to help the public entities who hadn’t been able to settle so far."Marlene DeSplinter said, "We need to work as a team and it won’t be difficult, I think."Without support from both the city and county, the committee said it would suspend "further deliberations."Getting from here to thereThe Luverne City Council and staff started questioning all its contract fees and joint agreements in order to save money.Law enforcement is a big expense for Luverne and the county — each expected to contribute $669,000.That includes dispatching costs, even though the city cancelled that agreement effective Dec. 31, 2004.The county rolled dispatching costs into law enforcement for 2005 in order to try to recoup money from the city’s cancelled dispatching agreement. The county said dispatching and record keeping are vital parts of providing law enforcement services and can’t be separated.The back-and-forth funding disputes have lasted more than a year. The city has been comparing its fees to other cities who contract for law enforcement or who provide their own service.City taxpayers contribute 18 percent of the county’s taxes. Rock County said the city can’t claim to have ownership over another taxing entity’s collection because all contract cities in the county pay both county and city taxes.Beyond that, the county says Luverne residents get more than half the services, so the charges are fair. The city is compiling what "services" entails. Ambulance runs between hospital and nursing home or funeral escorts, for example, are disputable. It says some services don’t generate reports in other parts of the county, but in Luverne they do, so the numbers are skewed.Also, the city wants to know what time of day or night and what days of the week are busiest for the department in the city. Those kinds of "accountability" issues are all on the table.Perkins said, "Certainly it’s a significant cause with some urgency."The city had set a goal for the committee to have some sort of recommendation on law enforcement by the end of February. Perkins said he thought it was important for the county to "buy in" to the concept of the committee. Otherwise, he said, their work won’t be worthwhile."Our own power is in our credibility, so it’s important that this group have credibility," Perkins said.The committee concurred and voted to invite the county to appoint members to the committee. As it stands, three of the 12 members live outside city limits.Committee member Mike Jarchow said, "We are all county residents, whether we live in the city of Luverne or not. Luverne is not an island."County reactionRock County Commissioners received the request from the law committee before their Tuesday morning meeting.Commissioners tabled action on endorsing the committee because they are waiting for payment on the existing law enforcement contract.According to the contract, the city has until Jan. 15 (Jan. 18 this year, because of a holiday and weekend) to pay its 2005 contract bill.The city has so far said it will send the county a partial payment.Commissioner Jane Wildung said, "We can negotiate for 2006 and beyond, but we are still under contract for 2005. … We haven’t been able to communicate so we’ve never had a starting point."Commissioners will wait to see if the new Luverne City Council (with three newly elected members) does anything different with law enforcement payment at its Jan. 11 meeting.Commissioner Chairman Ken Hoime said, "We have a contract and I think we need to stand firm by that."Wildung said that a committee discussing funding can’t simply look at numbers. "They are going to have to get into the services we provide. The service provider sets a price it costs him to do the service. That can’t negotiate what it actually costs us to do it."Commissioner Bob Jarchow said, "I think there’s a difference between joint powers and a contract."Joint powers means equal "ownership," while a contract is just a fee for service.Law Enforcement Study Committee member Mike Cox said county participation was important not only to verify numbers or budgets, but to provide history of combined law enforcement.Ed Elbers, committee member, said "Like any business contract, I think it’s good to review it periodically."Former Sheriff Ron McClure said, "Law enforcement is functioning well, but it’s a matter of getting the governments together at this point."