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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) A petition to disband the Valley City police department is being proposed in Valley City.

The petition calls for the people to vote up or down to set up an ordinance disbanding the Valley City Police Department. All law enforcement responsibility would move to the Barnes County Sheriff’s Department.

One of the sponsoring committee members on this proposed petition is Robert Drake.

Brian Mindt’s name was never on the proposed sponsoring committee petition handed into the city on Friday, November 6th as was reported earlier in this story.

Mayor Bob Werkhoven said the petition seems to be too extreme compared to his proposal.

The Werkhoven proposal would place administrative control of the city police department under the Sheriff’s office and would not disband the police department completely.

On October 30th Valley City Mayor Bob Werkhoven issued this statement concerning the resignation of Police Chief Fred Thompson and his proposal for the administration of the Valley City police department.

Werkhoven said “Public concerns and my recent discussions with the police chief regarding his resignation and other issues at the Valley City Police Department prompted me to look into some other options with regard to the administration of the Valley City Police Department.

Werkhoven believes this move could improve communications between local agencies and political entities and in the long run be more economical.”

One option for cities and counties with populations similar to Valley City and Barnes County is having the sheriff of the county provide the oversight to the police department.