in today's local news headlines area artists under arrest man in custody on suspicion of attempted murder charge nevada city mayor says look at outsourcing for police and harrison simmons say better force not different force and pet photo day to benefit disabled child in today's first local story written by kyle megan of the union and alta sierre man was in critical condition friday in a roseville hospital after he was allegedly beaten with a wooden log on thursday james turner seventy five was found unconscious by a friend thursday evening at alta sierra airport after apparently suffering a head trauma said nevada county sheriff keith royal he was recovering friday in sutter roseville hospital where he was transported by air after he was discovered cody feiler thirty also was of alta sierra a man was in custody with police on thursday night on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the incident feiler was wellknown musician and painter in the local arts community at three hundred pm thursday an alta sierra resident from the eighteen thousand block of norlene way near the airstrip called nine hundred and eleven to report feiler had allegedly been vandalizing his property and making death threats feiler had allegedly pulled the mans address sign out of the ground and destroyed a solar light he was making some very bizarre statements at that time royal said he talked about meeting with god and how he had beaten someone up and found a gold sword under a rock feiler returned to a home he is staying at on norlene where deputies found him naked in a bathtub at about three hundred and thirty pm for his own protection and others sheriff deputies took feiler into protective custody at that time they transported feiler to sierra nevada memorial hospital in grass valley for an evaluation initial testing shows he was not under the influence of any substances meanwhile shortly after four pm a friend of turner's received a call from him he sounded stressed and winded and said he would meet her at his alta sierra home royal said it is likely turner had already been attacked by that time but was still able to make a call when turner's friend went to his home at about six pm she didn't see turner and walked to the alta sierra airport on norlene way where he often walks at about seven hundred and fifteen pm she found turner on the ground near the runway suffering from apparent head trauma and called for an ambulance once there rescuers determined turner's injuries were not consistent with those of someone who fell to the ground investigators followed blood droplets to a wood pile and believe they found a log there used to strike turner on the face and head armed with this information sheriff's deputies questioned feiler in connection with the incident he made admissions to injuring this individual royal added a subsequent search of feiler's home turned up clothes with blood on them at that point deputies arrested feiler on the charge of attempted murder and took him to the wayne brown correctional facility in nevada city for questioning feiler was booked into the jail around three am after questioning and was in custody on the nobail charge as of friday afternoon messages left with feiler's family for comment were not returned friday feiler previously ran an art studio in grass valley from two thousand and eight to early last year at the st joseph's cultural center said director joseph guida and a story written by trina kliest of the union is nevada city getting the best police service for the money its spending could it get the desired level of service for less even if that means letting another agency take over city policing city leaders wouldn't discuss the matter when a proposal to outsource policing was offered two weeks ago and they disagree on how to move forward to address concerns about policing that have been raised mayor robert bergman wants to take a look at policing in the nevada county seat present service what people want what they're willing to pay for and bring back for discussion the possibility that someone else could do it better than the nevada city police department you get the information and then you figure out what to do said bergman who added he hopes to place the topic on a city council agenda in the nearterm the next city council meeting is set for feb 24th and the agenda will be set next week others on the council disagree councilwoman sally harris supports the city's present course which is to focus on concerns about loitering especially on commercial street and that street's public parking lot those are the only areas of concern about policing that she has heard residents raise she said a presentation on the city's options for addressing loitering including along broad street and in calanan park is expected to be heard by the council on may 11th councilwoman reinette senum wants the city to look at policing in a holistically way and see how the department can development better relationships with residents and business owners both support maintaining the city's own department council members david mckay and duane strawser were not be reached for comment i do not want our police department to be outsourced senum said i support a better police department this is an opportunity to reinvent ourselves and be better nevada city's public safety program is projected to cost the town more than twelve million in the two hundred and one thousand and eleven fiscal year employing sixteen people actual costs are higher state and federal grants pay for three sworn officers police chief lou trovato said and trovato has given the city what he calls a bargain in his own salary the man with forty four years of law enforcement experience is working for a halftime salary of forty eight thousand but i work with more then i work more than twenty hours a week he added soon the bargain will end more than a year ago trovato told the council of his intention to retire approaching seventy and already marking fifteen years with the city he would like to step aside in about a year but is willing to stay on as needed level service the nevada city police force has at least one patrol officer on duty at all times plus supervisory officers trovato said overnight shifts are some overlap mainly when they close bars one of the officers is dedicated to working with the nevada county narcotics task force and his salary is paid largely from state and federal grants those funds are in jeopardy as legislators at both levels try to cut costs county sheriff keith royal said two more officers are paid through a federal stimulus grant that will end in a little over a year from now trovato added in addition to the sworn officers two community service officers walk their beats their wages come from parking meter revenue and are not counted in the department budget the city already contracts with the county sheriff's office to receive emergency calls and dispatch officers at a cost of one hundred and twenty thousand yearly dispatchers fielded five thousand seven hundred and sixty five calls from nevada city in two thousand and ten according to figures compiled by communications manager andrew trygg of those two thousand seven hundred and four less than half were calls for service the rest were calls from officers themselves who check in with dispatch on a regular basis as situations arise the most common calls included those for disturbances such as arguments noise and barking dogs three hundred and sixty five calls suspicious circumstances three hundred and three alarms going off one hundred and seventy seven calls and nine hundred and eleven calls one hundred and forty three according to trygg's figures nevada city also contracts with grass valley for animal control services costing about forty eight thousand yearly costs for the present level of service already are low councilwoman harris said public safety is expected to consume about thirty nine percent of the current fiscal year's budget and that is in line with such costs of other towns and lower than many she added nevada city has seen a reduction in the taxes that fund city operations leading to layoffs and furloughs in recent years but city staff believes that decline will level off and revenue will start slowly growing again that implies we don't need to make drastic cuts unless we're willing to really cut the services harris added if we're willing to do that then there's all kinds of options but at this point i don't think our budget requires it and i don't think our citizens want less public safety service improved policing is high on the council's list of important issues but having another agency provide that service doesn't guarantee that is going to be cheaper than it is now she added we're already the lowestpaid agency in the county trovato said most sheriff's deputies earn in the range of fifty three thousand to nearly sixty five thousand yearly plus benefits according to the county wage scale an officer in nevada city makes nearly fifty three thousand five hundred plus benefits lieutenants and captains at the county level make significantly more than the city chief's annual salary of seventy nine thousand and bergman says a proposal from the grass valley police department to handle policing in nevada city was offered as a result of a strategic planning meeting for nevada city council in july two thousand and ten strawser now vice mayor worked with foster and undersheriff richard kimball to get information on what it would cost to outsource public safety foster's proposal would save money by eliminating supervisory positions and consolidating other activities sheriff royal did not submit a formal proposal but if he were to he would also save on supervisors and take advantage of services already in his department such as investigations both foster and royal said their agencies could save the city money of course it comes down to what they nevada city leaders want royal added the surprise to me is the city council chose not even to review the proposal before making a decision to not consider outsourcing their police service foster added considering such an idea doesn't make it a done deal mayor bergman said we're down to looking at cost savings and the biggest of the big expenses is police he said the city should determine what is the present level of service explore what people want figure out what it costs find out whether residents are willing to pay more adjust the level of service to the peoples desire and revenue available then look to costsaving measures including outsourcing we need to generate the information to determine whether outsourcing makes sense bergman added turning leaf studios and grass valley will have a valentine's pet photo day one thousand am to five hundred and thirty pm monday well that's today for a donation of an amount for photographer michelle kumler will offer a fifteen minute portrait session for pet owners and their beloved furry friends session will include an eight by ten color print photo event is a fundraiser for santos kline a local youth diagnosed with a number of disabilities including mental retardation a brain cyst tourette syndrome mild autism and asperger's and more and that's it today thanks a lot for watching and we'll talk to you tomorrow