Petition to combine police depts

[mister_coffee]

I personally do not have a dog in this fight, not being a resident of either Twisp or Winthrop. And if you live in unincorporated Okanogan County the law enforcement is effectively defunded and has been for a very long time. I could 100 percent get behind a proposal to incorporate the entire valley as a municipality though. Largely this is because major challenges facing the valley are going to be impossible to address out the resources currently available locally and we can expect no help and likely active interference in addressing those challenges from the County.

Bluntly I do not think either wildfire risk mitigation or affordable housing (and how they intersect in uncomfortable ways) is solvable with the current political status quo.

If you don't think wildfire risk is a problem, I have two words for you: homeowner's insurance. A major portion of the local economy is built around buying and selling homes and building new ones. You can't do any of that if you can't get insurance and you can't do very much of that if insurance is $12000+ per year. And having to insure at those prices guarantees that homes are unaffordable to normal people and even a lot of wealthy people.

Also, for most folks the value of their home is a major asset which often is used to support themselves later in life when or if they downsize. If you can't sell your home because buyers can't insure it the value of that major asset is approximately zero.

Again, Okanogan County is never going to do anything to address this problem, much less anything effective.

I And finally does this Valley really need a gustopo police agency? We went through this several years ago do not need a repeat
I suppose the plan to combine the 2 towns will resurface again too

gustopo is not a word. You probably meant "gazpacho"

[Jingles]

I see there is yet another attempt (again) to combine the Winthrop and Twisp Police departments, seems this comes up every few years when one or the other town can't get their schit together. Couple of problems with this.
1. In order to combine the 2 departments there has to be 2 departments that contribute equally and to the best of my knowledge Twisp DOES NOT have a force to contribute, so Winthrop would be tasked with picking up Twisp inability to contribute,.
2. As a resident of Winthrop I am well aware that the local constabulary(Marshall's office) already spends enough time
outside the town limits covering for the County and State, for accidents and numerous other reasons because the responsible policing agency is incapable of doing so.
3. With the dredded tourist season upon us the Winthrop Marshall's office FIRST responsibility is to the residents and businesses of Winthrop NOT Twisp.
If the residents of Twisp want a police force maybe they should start hammering on their town council to get off the pot and get one. And finally does this Valley really need a gustopo police agency? We went through this several years ago do not need a repeat
I suppose the plan to combine the 2 towns will resurface again too