With no warning, Mayor Tom Henry last week terminated the agreement creating a joint Allen County-Fort Wayne homeland security department.
Henry sent a letter dated Thursday to the county commissioners stating the city wants to end the agreement in 60 days - the minimum notice under the agreement for dissolution.
"While the past six years have been a valuable experiment, with the challenges of budgetary constraints, the city must work to find more effective service solutions for its residents," Henry wrote.
The letter came as a surprise to Commissioner Nelson Peters, who said he believed the joint agreement was working well for both parties.
"We certainly have gotten no feedback to the contrary," he said.
Bernie Beier, director of the joint department, also said on Saturday he had not heard of the city's plans to end the agreement. He said he talked a few weeks ago with the mayor on where his department should be located, but ending the agreement was never mentioned. Beier was unsure whether he would still have a job after the dissolution.
Peters said the commissioners hope to talk with Henry soon about the issues, noting he was unsure of the reasoning behind the mayor's request. A spokesman for Henry could not be reached on Saturday.
The joint agreement was signed on Feb..15, 2006, after years of work to merge separate city and county security departments, and was touted as a model for the state by then Mayor Graham Richard.
The department was financed by the previous county emergency management budget and the city's homeland security budget. The city's budget includes Beier's $89,309 salary and vehicle, while the county paid for the two other department employees. Peters said this seemed like a fair deal for both sides. Federal homeland security money reimbursed about half the costs for both governments.
Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, said the mayor's action made him a little nervous because of the past effort to merge the departments. Wyss was an advocate for not only merging departments, but appointing Beier as director. He said Beier is recognized highly across the state and country.
Having a joint department was a critical step, he said because it avoided conflicts between political parties and between rural and urban areas.
"It avoided any of the political problems you could have," he said.
In his letter, Henry said he would be willing to discussion a division of the department's assets and other issues, but made it clear he wants to end the agreement.
"For both of us, public safety is an absolute priority, but the duality of this position no longer serves the community in the most useful way," he wrote.
