Sullivan
City Terminates Police Agreement With Oak Grove
By By James B. Bartle
Jul 9, 2008, 18:24:00

The off and on again relationship between the City of Sullivan and the Village of Oak Grove appears to be headed down a rocky road as this week the Sullivan City Council voted to terminate a police patrol agreement with the Village.
The Sullivan City Council went into closed session on Tuesday night, July 1, following their regular meeting.
Two matters in the closed session received action or votes by the council.
Zachary S. Hudson was hired to the position of Police Dispatcher at a pay rate of $13.15 per hour. Hudson previously served as a Crawford County dispatcher.
The second item, and most eye-catching, was a unanimous council vote to terminate the city police agreement with Oak Grove to provide police protection for the Oak Grove portion of the Sullivan Wal-Mart Supercenter.
The Supercenter is located in both Sullivan and Oak Grove with the tax dollars split 75 percent, Sullivan, and 25 percent, Oak Grove.
The current agreement, which was passed by Sullivan in 2007, increased the cost for the service and, according to Sullivan’s uncollected service bills, the Village owes the city more than $20,000. Oak Grove never approved the new agreement and continued to pay Sullivan its previous contract amount for police services.
This year Oak Grove filed a lawsuit against the City of Sullivan citing that the city owes Oak Grove more than $1 million in taxes. Sullivan collects extra sales taxes due to approval from city residents. While the city has collected these taxes, Oak Grove feels that they should be receiving these taxes in their tax split agreement with the city. The City of Sullivan receives a tax check from the state and, in turn, pays Oak Grove their share of taxes.
While no clear evidence points as to why Sullivan has voted to terminate the agreement, it appears it is due to the lawsuit, failure to approve the new agreement, charges in arrears on services, and a lack of any further negotiations on a merger between the two municipalities.
Caught in the middle is Wal-Mart, who will have to rely on Franklin County deputies to respond to incidents involving crimes, accidents or other incidents that occur on the Oak Grove side of Wal-Mart.
The council’s official closed minutes state, “The city attorney, Matt Schroeder, drafted a letter for board review regarding the termination of police services for the portion of Wal-Mart lying in Oak Grove Village. This letter, which will be sent by certified mail, advised Oak Grove that as of thirty days after the date of the letter, the special police protection and services rendered by the City of Sullivan under its agreement with the Village will cease.
The letter stated that the city believes that the number of dwellings, business places and traffic arteries have substantially changed from that as was existing in 1993 and, therefore, will terminate according to the terms of the agreement, which was executed by both Oak Grove Village and the City of Sullivan on or about Dec. 16, 1993. A motion was made and duly seconded authorizing the city attorney to send the letter.”
Oak Grove presently has a new Lowe’s Home Improvement store under construction. It is not known whether this development will allow the Village to pursue their own law enforcement department or rely on the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department for patrolling its town and businesses.

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