MIDDLETOWN — Staffing for the Lake County Sheriff”s Office became a prime topic of a town hall meeting the Lake County Board of Supervisors hosted last week.
Three supervisors, as well as Sheriff Rod Mitchell, were present for the Thursday night event.
Mitchell told citizens at the meeting that that his department is fighting an “uphill battle” against a growing gang menace in Middletown and that, because of insufficient funding, he doesn”t have enough personnel to focus on it.
Mitchell placed responsibility at the supervisors” feet, saying the personnel shortage hasn”t been a board priority and that the county has provided his office insufficient funding at a time when qualified law enforcement personnel are in short supply and increasing demand.
Noting that he had only two deputies covering the communities of Middletown, Lower Lake, Clearlake Oaks and Glenhaven, he told the gathering, “We”re spread thin. You want me to forgo safety somewhere else just for the sake of here?”
He added, “No board member here has ever said to me, Give up Upper Lake, give up Clearlake, give up Kelseyville, give up north Lakeport, just staff Middletown.””
Mitchell said that he disagreed with a citizen”s comment that Middletown is “on an even plain” in the battle to keep gangs out.
“We are moving uphill against this gang issue. We are not even and we need to get ahead of it,” the sheriff said. “And as we are moving uphill we are losing property values.”
After making his appearance, Mitchell left behind a white paper that was an updated version of a document that he first presented to the board earlier this year. In it he cited vacancies in the ranks of his 911 communications operators, correctional officers and deputy sheriffs.
“I presented this paper in March,” Mitchell said. “Unfortunately, since March I”ve lost five more deputies.”
In the white paper, he wrote of a discussion with a supervisor over response times.
“I reminded the supervisor of our staffing problem,” said Mitchell. “I was shocked when his response was, Didn”t we just give you four new deputy positions?” He was actually surprised when I told him that what the board had given me was four more vacancies that I just cannot fill.
“If after all this, a county supervisor does not even recognize there is a problem, how can I possibly expect him to appreciate the gravity of it?” Mitchell”s paper went on.
In his response, Board Chair Anthony Farrington said that law enforcement budgetary problems are not unique to Lake County. But he acknowledged that it may or may not be true that the “baseline” (salary, compensation, retirement package) is lower here than in any of the state”s other 57 counties.
“Unfortunately, it is really hard to lure good quality people today throughout every jurisdiction,” Farrington said. “We”re working as closely as we can with Sheriff Mitchell and his staff and our board to raise our baseline so that we can compete within even our own community.”
The Clearlake and Lakeport police departments, as well as the Lake County District Attorney, have more attractive compensation packages that have lured sheriff”s deputies away, according to Mitchell”s paper.
“I know that if the sheriff had his way it would be nice if every single penny in the general fund go to his department so he can do his job,” Farrington added. “That would be great and it would be a wonderful thing. The unfortunate side of that is that it wouldn”t be good for the rest of the area. We can”t give every single dime from the general fund to law enforcement, but we can set aside enough money so that hopefully we can bring change.”
Other topics on the town meeting agenda were the proposed new Middletown public library and the formation of a Middletown municipal advisory council (MAC).
Ed Robey, who is the district supervisor for Middletown, said that more than $2 million has been set aside for the library. The county has purchased land for the facility across the street from the Middletown Unified School District office with the belief that it could become a joint venture.
Robey said there also are hopes of getting funds through a library bond act approved by the voters. But he acknowledged that a prior library bond act on the ballot failed. An additional concern is that MUSD has dragged its feet on a library joint venture.
“The school district hasn”t been able to decide for sure whether they want to do this or not,” Robey said. “One of the reasons for that is that they are in the middle of trying to develop their own plan for expansion (Measure X). They are also looking at the site where the library would be for an elementary school.”
If the joint-venture with MUSD fails to materialize, Robey said that the county would look for a new, more centralized location, even possibly next to the present library at the corner of Calistoga and Callayomi. The older library could then be assimilated into the new one.
“We”re hoping to be able to make a decision sometime this year and get things started,” Robey said. “It”s gotta go. It”s gotta go forward.”
Added Jeff Smith, the third supervisor present at the town meeting, “With escalating building costs, that $2 million is not going to go as far as it would have a couple of years ago. So, we really need to go ahead. We can”t wait for another bond issue at this point.”
Contact John Lindblom at jlwordsmith@mchsi.com.
