JONESVILLE — The Jonesville Town Council will decide the fate of its municipal police department tonight at 6 p.m. at town hall.

The board had decided in late April to explore disbanding the department, citing fiscal concerns, but Mayor Hiram Evans said Monday he will bring an alternative plan before the full board at its meeting tonight.

The plan, he said, was developed with “some creativity” with the council, the mayor’s office and the Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Office, which will have to take up the bulk of the burden of law enforcement in Jonesville if the police department is disbanded.

The alternative plan, a reduced force, will call for the CPSO to provide dispatching services from the hours of 4 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The town will provide a dispatcher during the day Monday through Friday, Evans said, and under the plan the sheriff’s office would conduct criminal investigations.

For other matters, the town will retain the position of police chief and two full-time officers working on alternating seven-days-on, seven-days-off shifts and bolstered with the help of part-time officers.

The 40 percent reduction in workforce will save the town approximately $250,000 annually, Evans said.

“This structure will save the Town of Jonesville substantially on the amount of money without putting as big a burden on the sheriff,” he said.

“We are going to work with the sheriff, and he is going to be working with us. It will give us an opportunity in the future, when we see where we can get some funding or can cut some of our expenses in other areas, we might be able to get back in (a police department) a little more deeper than we are now.”

Jonesville Police Chief Rock Davis submitted a resignation in April, Evans said, and the council will likely seek a new chief.

If the alternative plan is rejected, the town will still begin the process of fully dismantling the police department by the end of the fiscal year this month.

“Whatever we do, we will be transitioning to it July 1,” Evans said.