Levy fails in primary; sheriff candidates prepare for general election

The county commissioners had said that the public safety levy would be a hard sell and it was. In the primaries on Tuesday, June 8, voters decided not to increase the mill levy for the sheriff's department. The issue on the ballot proposed increasing the levy by 25 mills and voters declined it, 651 votes to 525 votes.

With the levy declined, the commissioners will be facing some tough decisions on what to do with the budget, which has had deficits made up by the county's general fund over the last few years. As for the budget itself, it will be inherited by the newly elected sheriff in November. Democrat Tim Vulles was moved through to the general election, running unopposed, while Mike Johnson and Ernie Ornelas ran against each other on the republican ticket. On June 8, voters chose Ornelas over Johnson, sending him through to the general election with 77 percent of the votes. Ornelas won over Johnson 715 to 155, while Rick Callison received 60 votes. Callison had announced prior that he was no longer in the running for sheriff, but it was too late to for his name to be removed from the ballot.

"I think any candidate when they have a victory it feels good," Ornelas said. "All I can say is that I want to thank all the voters who really supported me financially, with their time and by spreading the word. I can't thank them enough. The victory belongs to them."

Ornelas said that he believes that one of the large factors in the wide gap between him and Johnson is his character.

"I think that my character counted," Ornelas said. "A lot of people know me from a lot of different venues. I am who I am."

One of the issues that Ornelas and Vulles had their eye on was whether or not the public safety levy would pass.

"I kind of thought it would be close," Ornelas said.

Ornelas said that it was sort of surprising that the number of votes for and against the levy didn't quite add up to the number of people that voted. He said that in talking to people he found that they didn't realize it was located on the back of the ballot. Ornelas said that he wonders how it might have turned out had everyone voted.

Vulles said that with the failure of the levy, the department now knows now where it stands. He said he wasn't too surprised by its failure. Vulles did say, however, that he was surprised by the number in favor of the levy, but it just comes down to paying more taxes.

"It's like I said. People don't want more taxes, they can't afford more takes," Vulles said. "I'm going to have to start focusing on where the money is going to come from to fund the department so we can be something more than being strictly reactive rather than proactive. It's going to really affect how things are going to be done."

Vulles said that he's going to be looking into what can be done with shift schedules, which will become crucial should the department cut two deputies and a dispatcher.

"My focus is going to be on the manpower we have and I'm going to look at creating those volunteer programs," Vulles said. "Of course, where is that money going to come from for training and realistically, that training may fall on me. That's something I can do."

Ornelas said that whatever happens next is in the hands of the current sheriff, Hugh Hopwood, and the commissioners as the new sheriff won't inherit the budget until January.

"Who knows what will happen in the next six months," Ornelas said. "(If I'm elected), I will inherit whatever situation is left behind. There's nothing I can do about it right now. I'm not going to start making predictions as we all know anything could happen."

Ornelas said that he wants to make sure that people understand the statement he made at the Superior forum. While he said that he would sue the county, he wants to make sure that everyone understands that was an answer to a hypothetical question that asked what they would do if everything else failed and there were absolutely no options available, no money available.

"(Suing the county) would be an absolute last resort," Ornelas said. "I don't want to, I would not want to, but I would do what I needed to do the mandated job. I believe there are other options though."

Both candidates admitted that whoever inherits the budget isn't going to have the easiest job.

"No matter who gets position (in Nov.), they're going to have a tough job," Vulles said. "Everybody has to accomplish the same things."

Ornelas said that he doesn't want to make any predictions into what will happen. He said for now it's up to the commissioner's and Hopwood to look at the situation and do some restructuring if necessary.

Ornelas said that now that the primary campaign is over he plans to relax until about the end of the month and pick up again around the start of July.

"I haven't really thought about that (campaign for the next few months) right now," Ornelas said. "I just finished this campaign and I'm just going to relax for a little and start thinking about it toward the end of this month."

Vulles said that he is looking forward to getting over to Mineral County in the next few months before and talking to more voters.

"I want to get over there and meet more of the people," Vulles said. "I want to see what they're concerns are with the way things are going and what they want for a future."