Letter: Souvenir is financially responsible

Published 10:54 am Monday, October 24, 2022

My observation of the current race for Pacific County sheriff has reached a point that I feel the need to clarify some points. Elections are contentious by nature, but the ones that merely throw political spaghetti at the wall are counterproductive and tend to cover up for lack of a core message.

There are two main responsibilities of an elected official. One is to set the tone of an office among the staff and to the public and make decisions on the best way to run it. The other main responsibility is to do the very best job you can to live within the budget you are given to conduct the services you are tasked with carrying out and advocate for more resources to do so, when necessary.

It appears that some current and past employees of the sheriff’s office do not agree with some of the decisions the current sheriff has made. That is their right. However, voters need to question what the motivations are for these disagreements and decide for themselves if they are valid and that is difficult to do when most of the allegations are anonymous.

I am writing this letter as a voter and taxpayer but do have working knowledge of the budgets of each office in my position as commissioner and feel there have been misleading statements about the sheriff’s budget and would like to clarify those.

Sheriff Souvenir has been very fiscally responsible with his budget, and it is in very good condition. It has, in fact, also been supplemented with many outside sources due to the actions of the sheriff and his staff. They were able to secure five new patrol cars as well as upgrades to the jail kitchen with a federal grant that only required a 25% match. This is a huge savings for the taxpayers. Sheriff’s cars are always a very large but necessary part of their budget, and this grant couldn’t have come at a better time. The sheriff and other local leaders including Mayor Jerry Phillips of Long Beach lobbied the Legislature for money to restart the Drug Task Force starting in 2020. They have received two grants from the legislature to date for a total of approximately $700,000 and are currently asking for an additional installment of about the same amount while also trying to devise a plan to continue this program if the infusions from the state should discontinue. This has been a very good thing for the citizens of the county, as we know crime all over our state and nation are at unprecedented levels.

One of the specific concerns that came up at the debate in Ilwaco last week was regarding the budget and the fact that it appeared questionable because deputies were paid out of different funds. This is standard government accounting that anyone that has never worked with “public money” does not understand. Money to fund county services come from many different sources. The main sources are property and sales taxes, but there are also specific pots of money from grants or other more specific taxes that must be accounted for through this type of tracking of hours and duties. We have one office in the county that runs almost entirely on state and federal grants, utilizing very little of our local taxes for their operation.

To be fair, these are things you would not know if you did not work in the public sector. Having said that, If you are going to challenge this process and accuse someone of doing it suspiciously one would think that you would ask those in charge of these tasks how they are done before accusing others of wrongdoing. To my knowledge, Mr. Daniel Garcia has not contacted anyone in the county to inquire about the budget procedure, at least no one in my office where the budget is administered.

Something I do not recall coming up at the debate was the fact that, if elected, Mr. Garcia would be required to go to the academy and be a commissioned officer within 12 months of being elected. So would the person he has identified as his intended undersheriff. A commission expires within 24 months if not kept active and I am told that one does not always get into the academy right away. It depends on how backed up they are with requests. Both academy attendances would be paid for by the county while those attending draw full salaries as employees. I believe the academy takes up to twelve weeks to complete.

As I said, I am writing this as a private citizen but possess, through my position at the county, relevant details that I thought the voters should have to make their decision.

As one of the three that are tasked with overseeing county policy and budgets, I will tell you that I will work with whoever is in office to the best of my ability to accomplish these goals. That is my job.

LISA OLSEN

South Bend