The Oak Creek Board of Trustees on Thursday approved extending an agreement for law enforcement services with the Routt County Sheriff’s office until Dec. 31.

Interim Town Administrator and Clerk Mary Alice Page-Allen said the board is putting the search for a new police chief on hold until they have hired a new town administrator.

The town has been without an administrator since July 2024 following the resignation of David Torgler.

Last November, there were discussions held with Ty Bricker, who has a background in the military and federal law enforcement and was seen as a potential candidate for police chief, however Bricker said he was was more interested in helping guide the hiring process and providing support on an interim basis, and was not looking to take on the permanent role of police chief. 

The town has been without a police chief since Ralph Maher resigned in March 2024 in the wake of an independent investigation that found Maher behaved unprofessionally in relation to a Jan. 21, 2024 incident at The Colorado Bar involving an all-male performance by a group called “The Magic Hunks.”

The investigation also found evidence that Maher had violated additional department policies in repeated attempts to pull individuals over for speeding.

Normally, Oak Creek’s police department is staffed by a total of three people. Right now, however, there are zero town police employees, and there have not been any since Maher’s resignation close to a year ago. 

“Due to the loss of its law enforcement officers, [Oak Creek] currently cannot adequately provide its own law enforcement services. [Oak Creek] has requested the Sheriff to provide law enforcement services until [Oak Creek] can hire new law enforcement officers,” according to the agreement between the town and the sheriff’s office. 

Under the renewed agreement, the town will pay the Sheriff’s Office employees a rate of $52/hour for responding to “emergent matters.”

The town also will reimburse the Sheriff’s Office at a rate of $93/hour requests for additional off duty deputy patrol coverage, such as at special events. 

The board on Thursday also approved extending the contract for its interim town manager and clerk, Mary Alice Page-Allen, for 90 days. 

Page-Allen told the board she hoped they would be able to make a decision in the next 90 days because she was not willing to extend her contract as a temporary employee beyond that. 

Page-Allen said the board continues to work with KRW Senior Associate Mark Collins to assist with the hiring process, and has held two rounds of applications and increased the salary to a range of around $110,000 to $135,000 — as well as reduced duties to not include the role of town clerk.  

She said the board and Mayor Melissa Dobbins are in the process of interviewing town administrator candidates.

“The town board put the police chief search and any police personnel search on hold until they have finalized filling the town administrator position,” Page-Allen said. “They want leadership in place prior to moving forward with a more robust search to add personnel to the police department.”