Deputies will return to patrols

CANFIELD -- Deputy sheriffs should be back on the beat today in Canfield Township after the township agreed to pay for their presence.
Trustees signed a $200,000, one-year contract with the sheriff Monday night at their meeting, Trustee Paul Moracco said. Sheriff Randall Wellington will sign today, and deputies will return to the area immediately.
Wellington pulled the deputies in November after the county sales tax was defeated, saying he could no longer afford routine patrols in rural unincorporated areas.
Early in negotiations, trustees were looking at a $330,000 plan that put five deputies into the sheriff's satellite station, located in the former township garage behind township hall. The number has been reduced to three, though either side may ask for a fourth deputy to ensure round-the-clock service, Moracco said. The township would pay for the fourth deputy.