Cuts hard on morale at Sheriff’s Department

How?s morale at the Presque Isle County Sheriff?s Department? ?Not good right now,? said sheriff Terry Flewelling Monday. ?With everything that?s been going on, morale is pretty low.? In addition to the ongoing labor strife between one sheriff?s department union (POLC) and the PI County Board of Commissioners, the department also has had to deal with the loss of deputy Jamie Meyer, because the board trimmed $40,000 from the sheriff?s department budget in late December.

It was one of several cuts made by the board, but a difficult one to accept among sheriff?s department employees, who had to lose one of their own.

?I?M LOSING a fine officer,? said Flewelling. ?He was a very nice young man. He did his job very well. I would have liked to have kept him.? Flewelling said ?service may be slowed? in the county as a result of the layoff, and scheduling will be a challenge, but his department will still provide the best possible service to county residents.

The issue of officers losing jobs because of the budget bottom line is not isolated to Presque Isle County; it?s happening statewide. ?I think the number one reason…

;is that there is no mandatory road patrol,? said Flewelling. The sheriff?s department is mandated to have a court officer and a jail, among other things, but it is not required to provide a road patrol.

FLEWELLING WAS hoping the use of 911 funds to pay dispatchers, and the retirement of an officer in February would have been enough to avoid a big budget cut. ?I have an officer who is ready for retirement,? said Flewelling. ?He was going to retire in February and I was going to try and get by next year without putting that officer in there (the budget), which would have reduced the budget by another $50,000.?

But the officer has had to wait to see how an unresolved contract matter involving pension is settled before hanging up the handcuffs one last time.