Isabella County commissioners canceled contracts with two municipalities for private road patrol.

Following a road patrol defeat in the November general election, the county’s public safety contracts with Lake Isabella and Wise Township will be terminated effective Dec. 31, when funding for Sheriff Michael Main’s deputies and detective sergeants runs out.

A Wise Township official spoke at the commission’s work session Tuesday night, asking that they be given time to find additional funding to keep a deputy in office, but 13 of the county’s 16 deputies are already employed and contracts have been awarded in surrounding counties. Both municipalities depended on having a full road patrol staff.

While discussing termination of the covenants (Lake Isabella’s had been in effect since Dec. 1, 2022, and Wise Township’s went into effect June 6, 2023), commissioners expressed the need for municipalities to do the right thing by giving them 30 days’ notice.

Main said they were both good partners and wanted to be given proper notice.

Following approval of the termination, letters were sent to Lake Isabella Village Manager Tim Wolff and Wise Township Clerk Doris Methner.

Main told commissioners that the deputies who will be dismissed on Dec. 31 continue to work for the rest of the year before starting new jobs, while some took leave from the bank before leaving.

Commissioners last approved the renewal of land and sea patrols in June 2023.

While the sheriff’s office has had an agreement with the village for several years, Main also secured special patrol duty in Wise County in 2023 after he was approached about the matter.

After reviewing the town’s needs and sheriff’s office capabilities, Main and county officials reached an agreement similar to the one the county had signed with Lake Isabella.