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Oak Creek — The town of Oak Creek plans to have at least one community service officer on the payroll by June, while town officials continue to wrangle with whether to pay for full police coverage from the Routt County Sheriff's Office or rehire the town's own police force.

At a Thursday meeting of the Oak Creek Town Board, Police Commissioner and Trustee Dave Ege presented the board with a proposal to hire a community service officer for animal control and code enforcement. The town soon will begin advertising for the position, with applications due by June 12. Ege said he hopes to have a person hired to begin training by July 1.

The position is for 30 hours per week, and the officer will handle animal complaints and municipal code enforcement, while notifying Routt County Communications about any major crime in the town. The officer will be armed only with a baton and pepper spray but no Taser or gun, Ege said. The officer also will not have the ability to make custodial requests.

The proposal follows a focus group that indicated citizens wanted a police force separate from the sheriff's office.

"I think (what is) most important is that we do take into consideration the focus groups and the work put in by the community and the comments from the community. : That's what community policing is all about," Trustee David Fisher said.

The board will meet with Routt County Commissioners on Tuesday, when trustees will have the chance to discuss a proposal from Sheriff Gary Wall.

Trustees said the memo Wall provided the board about the potential cost of coverage for the town was outlandish. The memo's estimate, which included all the hours spent by deputies and the town's police department during 2008, billed at $81 an hour, would cost the town more than $300,000 per year.

"It didn't matter at all what we got back from them. It wasn't what we discussed or wished to discuss with them," Ege said. "We need to get together with the county and get something set up. : There are things that happen in Oak Creek that need to be investigated, and they're not being investigated."

Ege said the town does not need to rush into any agreements or decisions because the town does not need police coverage immediately.

"Statutorily, Oak Creek does not have to field a police department. Colorado Revised Statutes clearly states that we are not obligated to have a police department. The sheriff is obligated to provide crime control to the entire county," he said. "We pay county taxes."

Even if the town reached an agreement with Wall, Police Commissioner and Trustee Chuck Wisecup said a federal COPS grant application he completed on behalf of the town would supply the funding to hire the town's own police force for three years, if granted. According to the stipulations of the grant, the town would have to retain whatever officers hired for an additional year after the grant expired, or face exclusion from COPS grants for several years.

The force would be boosted to three employees if the grant is approved, with a chief hired at $60,000 and two officers at $45,000 apiece, plus insurance and benefits.

The community service officer would join the police staff if the grant is approved.