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Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Sheriff, county at odds over spending in fiscal ‘19 budget

Mason a no-show during presentation, evaluation

As evidenced during the Sheriff’s Office budget presentation last month by Chief Deputy Doug Dods and comments made Tuesday by County Administrator Harold Higgins tensions between Sheriff Reggie Mason and the commissioners are at an all-time high.

“The sheriff is an elected state official, and this is a budget process,” Higgins said during the county commissioners’ budget evaluation session. “We can ask for transactions and details on underlying expenditures,” Higgins said. “We’ve not had the best relationship with the sheriff, and we’re using our ability to go into detail and question.”

Mason is retiring at the end of this term, on Jan. 1, 2019. His replacement, however, will be de facto elected during the June 26 primary, as only Republican candidates have filed for office. The new sheriff will have to abide by the budget Dods said he and two other deputies developed.

The office asked for five new deputies, a request that the commissioners trimmed to two deputies and one school resource officer. The department also requested new vehicles, option packages for those vehicles to outfit them to serve as law enforcement cruisers, uniforms and equipment for those new deputies.

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Publishers Notes: What Sheriff in their right mind would not show up for their own budget? A Sheriff on his way out, that's who. A Sheriff with an ax to grind, that's who. A Sheriff who supports candidates who have absolutely NO leadership experience, that's who. A Sheriff who supports candidates that have never handled a budget, that's who. 

Council Members aren't stupid. They're seeing right through the crap the Sheriff is leaving behind and fortunately for the residents of Worcester County, they're not stupid either. Mike McDermott is the only candidate qualified to be Sheriff. Yes, I know, anyone can put their name in the hat to run for Sheriff but the only one qualified is McDermott. 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never a dull moment here on the shor' hon!

SMH!

Anonymous said...

Dude looks like a heart attack waiting to happen.

Anonymous said...

This is spot on! Reggie is a dinosaur, that never was close to a modern day law enforcement leader. He endorses Chrisafolla, enough said. Note, when a vote was taken by the FOP, it was unanimously McDermott!

Anonymous said...

Reggie is an idiot! Always has been. Just listen to anything he has presented. The WCSO is ripe to become a PROFESSIONAL department, but only under the right leadership. Mike is the only choice.

Anonymous said...

He looks like a thug going by that mug shot

Anonymous said...

Reggie's failure to work with the County Commissioner's or even communicate with them is unprofessional at best. There are many pressing public safety issues in the county that are being neglected and no apparent plan to address any of them. Mike McDermott is a good choice in this election. I've looked at what all of these candidates are putting out there, and Mike is the only one providing a clear plan going forward. He always communicated with us as a State Delegate and no one has done so since! I look forward to seeing what he can do with that department. It looks like Reggie stayed too long at this point and why he thinks he should be the king maker has made me lose more respect for him than his recent poor performance with the budgets. My grandkids go to our public schools and I could not believe that we had no school deputies in many of our schools for over 2 years even though we were paying for them in his budget. We asked and got crickets until the Commissioners got involved and questioned him about the money. Maybe he's just old and tired but there's no excuse for the way he has been behaving publicly. It is an embarrassment for our county and certainly beneath the Office of Sheriff.

Anonymous said...

As stated, the current high sheriff is a baffoon,and I work for him! The entire Department supports Mike, not because he's a "nice guy", because at times hesh not, it's because he's a leader!

Anonymous said...

Couldn't have said it better!

Anonymous said...

Sheriff is usually a No Show. When his best friend Albert who use to work with him at OCPD and then WCSO the day he left Reggie was no where to be found because Reggie left him go. Reggie has turned his back on many current and former Deputies that stood by his side. Kinda like when former Chief Deputy Smack retired. Reggie found out Smack was supporting McDermott. Smacks right as a citizen. So Reggie sends a Lt ON Duty to Smack to tell him he is no longer welcomed in the WCSO no longer was Smack to contact his family and banned from WCSO activities. Reggie is such a child.

The motor cycle unit. Went behind the commissioners back bought the bikes. Have you even seen INS for bike coverage. Yes it cost more. Reggie has taken full time deputies to fill the vacant school deputies who have left because they are tired of Crisafulli’s micro management of seasoned veterans. Also the fill in deputies are getting over time to fill these spots. Your talking Cpl Sgt and Lt salaries. Oh back to the motor units. A lot of times these deputies are getting overtime to ride around at funeral parades. Again all at the tax payer expenses.

A reason the FOP fully supports Mike McDermott with his proven leadership abilities. Reggie has always backed down from controversy and hid and sending others to do his dirty work because he is afraid to upset someone. At least McDermott has a backbone.

Anonymous said...

Whoever the deputies support is a pretty damn good indication of who the right choice is.