Current Projects

Background Information
On January 18, 2017, The City of Forest Lake began the process to receive a formal proposal from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department for contract law enforcement services. The purpose of this request is to explore the feasibility of Washington County providing law enforcement services to the City of Forest Lake and to evaluate the budgetary impact it may have.

As this process moves forward, this webpage will be used to warehouse project documents as well as provide updated timelines. Project documents can be found by clicking on the documents link below.

Document Links

The documents associated with the project can be found in the folder linked below. This folder will be continually updated as this process moves forward.

5-10-17 Joint Press Release

Document Folder

WCSO Proposal

The City of Forest Lake has received a copy of the proposal for Contract Law Enforcement Services from Washington County. City Staff and Chief Peterson are currently working on evaluating the proposal against the current Police Department Budget and staffing profile. It is important to note that while the current Police Department Budget is approximately $4,000,000 the net levy impact of our current staffing profile is closer to $3,200,000.

By contrast, the WCSO proposal is approximately $2,900,000. At this point, this is still a tentative figure as the proposal is still being evaluated and as a result this figure could change. Results from the evaluation, once available, will be posted here and will also be available at the upcoming open house.

Updated 5-2-2026

Project Timeline

January 19, 2026 Letter to Sheriff's Office formally requesting proposal for law enforcement services released.
April 5, 2026 Copy of WCSO Proposal Received
April 18 5-7pm Open House at Forest Lake City Center
April 18 Virtual Open House
May 1 Workshop to Review Proposal from Washington County Sheriff
May 1 Consideration of Proposal from Washington County Sheriff at Forest Lake City Council Meeting
May 8 Consideration of WCSO Proposal at City of Forest Lake City Council Meeting
May 15 Consideration of Agreement by Forest Lake City Council

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I address the Council?

A:

The Forest Lake City Council holds regular meetings on the second and fourth Monday of the month, with workshops taking place on the third Monday. Regular meeting are where council action are taken and workshops are more informal work sessions where no council action is taken.

For those wishing to address the council, before every regular council meeting and workshop an open forum is available for residents to speak to the council on any topic. To participate in the open forum, residents are asked to sign up on the open forum signup sheet, which is available at the meeting. We ask that residents please limit their comments to 3 minutes.

Q: Where can I find a calendar of upcoming City Council Meetings?

A:

A schedule of upcoming City Council meetings can be found on the city's homepage (www.cityofforestlake.com) and on the right side of this page.