NORTH BEND - With an air of uncertainty hanging over the city's police services contract, City Council members took their first public step in shopping around for a possible new agreement last week when they met with representatives from the city of Snoqualmie's Department of Public Safety.

The move is the latest in the city's quest to determine if it should exercise its right to cancel the existing contract with the King County Sheriff's Office. In April, city officials notified the county that it planned to revoke the nearly $1-million contract in protest of the state's Department of Social and Health Services consideration of a site near Exit 38 as a candidate for a sex-offender halfway house.

The notice opened a 45-day period in which city and county officials met to discuss the issue. When that period ended in June, it left the city the option of opting out of the contract at any time via written notice.

City officials scheduled last week's meeting as a "relaxed work study" to gain information on the services offered by the department, according to Mayor Joan Simpson. Another was scheduled with King County this week - after the Valley Record's press time.

"We are offering nothing less than we provide for the city of Snoqualmie," Ed Crosson, assistant chief of the city of Snoqualmie Department of Public Safety- Police Division, told the council.

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