Stanislaus County won’t pay for outside attorney to assist sheriff in dispatch dispute
Stanislaus County supervisors, in a 4-1 vote Tuesday, decided not to provide outside legal counsel for the sheriff in a growing dispute with the county over 911 dispatch services.
In a related item, county supervisors approved a one-year extension of the Joint Powers Agreement with Modesto for operation of Stanislaus Regional 911 through Dec. 31, 2025.
The board scheduled a Jan. 28 date for Sheriff Jeff Dirkse to bring more information on his plans to leave Stanislaus Regional 911 and partner with Ceres for dispatch services.
A dispute over a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system has strained the relationship between the two main partners in Stanislaus Regional 911, the county and Modesto.
Dirkse asked for an outside attorney at the county’s expense, because a board action in June favored Modesto’s proposal for a CentralSquare computer-aided dispatch system.
Dirkse has said the CentralSquare system is unsuitable for his department’s needs and the process of selecting the system was invalid. He wants outside legal advice because conflicts prevent the County Counsel’s office from representing him.
County Counsel Thomas Boze noted that a separate entity — the four-member commission over Stanislaus Regional 911 — made the decision selecting the dispatch system, so there was no conflict between the sheriff and the county. The commission consists of county and city of Modesto representatives.
Dirkse continues to oppose the commission’s decision to purchase and implement the CentralSquare CAD. The choice of that system will require the Sheriff’s Department to purchase record and jail management software for adding to the system. In addition, fire districts, probation and other partner agencies will have to contract separately with CentralSquare for licensing, Dirkse said.
The sheriff is working with Ceres police to develop and implement a state-of-the-art Oracle dispatch platform. Dirkse wants to break away from Stanislaus Regional 911 by June, which would leave Modesto and fire districts aligned with regional center.
The sheriff’s next step could be a petition asking Stanislaus Superior Court to order the county to hire an outside attorney for Dirkse.
Supervisor Channce Condit, who cast the dissenting vote, said he believes the court would find a conflict exists and would side with Dirkse because the county counsel is representing so many different entities on this issue.
Supervisor Terry Withrow said he hopes differences can be worked out before any petition is filed in Superior Court. Withrow is concerned the dispute over the competing CAD systems could boil over into litigation.
“This is very disturbing where we are here,” Withrow said. “I don’t think we’ve ever found ourselves in the spot where we are going at it with our own sheriff.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 8:25 AM.
