Richmond’s Take On The Joint Powers Agreement With Cold Spring [AUDIO]

RICHMOND -- On Tuesday we told you that there was conflict at the Cold Spring City Council meeting. Today we have Richmond's take on the issue.

Richmond Mayor Scott Kron expects the Joint Powers Agreement between Cold Spring and Richmond to be a topic of discussion at their next council meeting.

Cold Spring City Administrator Paul Hetland and Richmond City Administrator Martin Bode are at odds over the police contract and that has caused friction between them.  They'd like to end their Joint Powers Agreement. However, neither have support from their councils.

Hetland proposed that Cold Spring reevaluate their relationship with Richmond  at Tuesday night's meeting. Kron says his council members were a little surprised by the proposal.

Kron says he believes the Richmond City Council would like to continue working with the Cold Spring Police Department. He says it's unfortunate that there's tension between the two administrators.

At a council level, Kron says they've never discussed breaking ties with Cold Spring. He says it would be premature to speculate what the town would do if the contract were terminated.

The Cold Spring City Council did not take action on the proposal. They ended their meeting stating that they'd like to let things cool down before they discuss any future plans.

If the Joint Powers Agreement between the two cities were to end, Richmond would be faced with either starting up their own police department or allowing the Stearns County Sheriff's Department to take over enforcement.