Dorchester to stay with sheriff for patrols

The Dorchester Village Board decided to retain their service agreement with Clark County Sheriff’s Office for additional police coverage after receiving assurances from Sheriff Kerry Kirn at their most recent board meeting on Monday.

The board had been considering an offer from the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department but decided to remain with Clark County after speaking with the sheriff in person.

Kirn, who was elected last November and began work as the sheriff in January of this year, reiterated to the board that coverage issues they had been experiencing largely came down to understaffing over the last few months of the 2024 and the start of 2025. With several new deputies stepping into those positions, time was needed to get them the necessary training. However, Kirn noted that once their current deputies are fully trained, the sheriff’s office should once again be fully staffed.

Timelines for the completion of the training ranged from August to December of this year. In the meantime, Kirn said there are plans for a reserve part-time officer to patrol the village for roughly 20 hours a week. Once the new officers are fully trained, the hours spent patrolling the village are expected to go back to their normal 32 hours a week, according to Kirn.

The current contract the village has with the sheriff’s office will remain in place for the time being, though Kirn was open to some changes if the village saw the need. As such, the $7,000 per month Dorchester pays for the increased coverage would remain in place, a cheaper price point than the offer given by the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department.

One primary change that Kirn will be looking to implement is to have a number of different officers patrol through the vil- lage to cover the allotted hours, rather than just assigning a single officer as they had done in the past. This change will hopefully alleviate some of the prior issues with the agreement, spreading out the work among multiple people to help account for potential absences.

“See, that’s what we had kind of asked for, because we wanted a face, somebody who was familiar to the people,” trustee Kurt Schwoch said, referring to the village’s request for just a single officer to be assigned to the village.

“And it kind of bit us,” he added. “So this is probably a better way to go.”

The board also decided to look at appointing a primary contact for communications with the sheriff’s office at their next board meeting on Aug. 6 The board noted that some of the issues over the last few months seemed to stem from a lack of communication between the two entities, something that they hoped the appointment would potentially resolve.

The decision to continue with the contract with Clark County Sheriff’s Office was unanimous.

Liquor license approved

After tabling the approval of a liquor license at their regular July meeting, the village board revisited the item at Monday’s meeting and approved the license for Reese Ewert, D.B.A Badger Boo, LLC.

During the July meeting, board members said they were unsure of what Ewert planned to do with the space and expressed concerns that he was living in the building on the corner of Front Street and County Road A, which is zoned for commercial use. This led to the tabling of the license application.

Ewert’s attorney, Trevor Passmore, told the board on Monday that these were not grounds to deny a liquor license.

“It’s my understanding at the last meeting that there were some amorphous concerns expressed but that ultimately, none of the allowable causes for non-renewal under statutes were brought up and that procedure was not followed regarding notice for non-renewal,” Passmore said.

Ewert said that many commercially zoned properties allow for personal dwellings above the first floor or in basements, and that he was informed by the village clerk that he would be able to live there before he purchased the property in question. It was not confirmed at the meeting if Dorchester’s zoning allows for such usage.

Ewert also felt like rumors were leading to unfair treatment when it came to his renewal.

“I don’t know if I want to invest at this point,” he said. “It kind of feels like I’m being run out of town.”

Board members expressed that they had wanted to speak with him in person, because they were uncertain what his intentions were and that they did not want to base their decision on things that they have heard from other sources.

“I’ve heard lots of rumors and just wanted to hear from you what your intentions were, because I didn’t want to believe just these rumors,” trustee Julie Goldschmidt said. “We just want to make sure it’s legal.”

Ewert stated that, like his application indicated, his intentions were to start a restaurant in the building. He also noted that he would be open to additional business opportunities if they presented themselves when questioned by the board.

After speaking with Ewert, the board decided to move forward with the approval of the liquor license renewal.

“Like I said the last time, we don’t want to keep a business from coming to town,” Schwoch said.