Nov. 15--PANAMA CITY -- A Panama City commissioner said Saturday the city might be able to save money by abolishing the Panama City Police Department and contracting with the Bay County Sheriff 's Office for law-enforcement services.

Commissioner John Kady brought the issue up during a twoday workshop that began Friday and ended Saturday.

"It might be smarter for us, from an economic standpoint, to contract with the Sheriff," Kady said in an interview with The News Herald. He added he had no problems with the police department.

"I think the officers and managers do a great job," Kady said.

Mayor Scott Clemons said he believed the commission was willing to, at least, investigate the cost savings that could come with such a move. "We have to be good stewards of our tax dollars," Clemons said. However, Sheriff Frank McKeithen seemed to take a dim view of the possible change. "Number one, I think Panama City has an excellent police department and we work very well together," McKeithen said.

He added he would only do a study into the matter if the commission voted for it at a commission meeting. McKeithen said individuals from various cities do ask about outsourcing their lawenforcement responsibilities from time to time and that his department tries to avoid those requests unless the commission involved votes in favor of the study.

McKeithen also said it takes "a lot of work," to create those studies. Currently, the Sheriff 's Office provides law enforcement services in Bay County, Callaway and the Cedar Grove community. They also provide resource deputies to middle and high schools in Bay County under a contract with Bay District Schools.

McKeithen said he "absolutely" did not approach Kady about the possibility of taking over the police department.

The suggestion of outsourcing police duties came while the city is in its first negotiation with Teamsters Local 991, the union that now represents Panama City Police officers. The union has nothing to do with Kady's suggestion, he said.

"It's just completely separate," Kady said.

In response to the suggestion, Chief John Van Etten e-mailed a statement to The News Herald on Saturday afternoon that referenced a recent survey about city services.

"The survey showed that Public Safety consistently exceeded the national benchmarks for services and that the citizens were very satisfied with the services that they received. To my knowledge, there have not beencomplaintsastothelevel of service that is provided by the police department," Van Etten wrote. He also warned that public safety services often "suffer during and after a consolidation."

"I would like to add that we have a tremendous group of employees at the police department who work very hard everyday at providing good customer service to the citizens of Panama City and I am very proud of the job they do for this community," Van Etten wrote.

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