(Okoboji)– A possible merger of the Arnolds Park and Okoboji Police Departments is apparently off the table.
Okoboji Mayor Mary Vanderwoude gave a status report at Tuesday’s Okoboji City Council meeting. She says the talks were initiated a couple of months ago based on some upcoming retirements in both departments.
Vanderwoude says the discussions evolved into city officials in both Arnolds Park and Okoboji gathering some information and putting some numbers together. She says they’ve reviewed that information, and that as far as Okoboji is concerned, things aren’t going to go any further than that…
There have been instances periodically where one officer from either department has been on duty in both towns simultaneously. Arnolds Park and Okoboji also have had a 28E agreement in place since 2024 which allows the two departments to share an investigator.
