SCSO takes measures to save money

THOMPSON FALLS – The Sanders County Sheriff’s Department held their monthly meeting with the County Commissioners Wednesday.

Topics of discussion included new police vehicles, repairs to the jail plumbing, and a change in food services for the jail.

Two department vehicles will be retired soon and likely be auctioned off according to the Sheriff. Sanders County has on order two new Ford Explorers, that they will be leasing. The lease will cost the county approximately $16,500 for each vehicle per year over the three year lease. The current vehicles have had major malfunctions and have gained lots of miles on the road. In fact, one vehicle has over 180,000 miles.

“Typically after about 120,000 miles you retire a vehicle,” Undersheriff Lanny Hensley said. “We have not had the luxury. We actually had to the replace the transmission in one vehicle last year and thankfully it is still on the road.”

The vehicles are in their post manufacturing stage in New Jersey where they will get police equipped and then shipped to Plains. The old vehicles will be put up for auction whenever the new ones arrive.

According to Sheriff Tom Rummel, vehicle maintenance has become one of the highest costs for the department. New vehicles with a three-year warranty will help cut costs if a major malfunction occurred with the vehicle. The SUVs were purchased in lieu of cars due to the terrain in Sanders County.

“We thought about going with cars,” Hensley said. “With the roads here in Sanders County, it just was not a viable option. There are some pretty rural areas here and if we get a call to an area, we have to be able to get to it. The cars would not have allowed us do that.”

The next item on the agenda was plumbing issues at the jail. The jail is currently experiencing a leaking problem in the basement of the building. The basement houses the offices of the deputies, detectives, undersheriff and sheriff as well as the evidence locker, heating system, and computer network system.

“So far we have not had an issue with leaking water on the evidence locker or any of that stuff,” Rummel said. “Every now and then we have to mop up the water to make sure it is not a problem.”

The leaking water does not affect the jobs of jail employees but does cost the county money. The leaking water increases the water bills and the longer the problem goes, the worse it may get.

According to the report, the water bill at the jail is over $300. The jail budget has nearly $6,000 in the building maintenance budget for repairs left in the fiscal year. If the problem is not fixed, the county will be spending more money on repairs later, as well as higher utility cost.

“We are wasting so much water, we have water running constantly,” said Sanders County Deputy Shawna Chenoweth “The sinks are overflowing because these things are worn and broke. We are putting out so much money to fix this, but in the long run I think it is worth it.”

The jail and sheriff’s department budgets combined would give the county around $10,000 to overhaul the plumbing and only sacrifice small maintenance items such as light fixtures.

“We are literally pouring money down the drain,” Commissioner Carol Brooker said. “Repairs would save the county quite a bit of money.”

Keeping the theme of saving money for the county, a switch in food services may be in order. Sanders County Jail currently uses Food Services of America to get their products, but after meeting with Sysco that may change.

Based on the cost analysis from Sysco the county would be spending $1,800 a month for the products ordered. Each order would be slightly different, but would cost around $21,000 for the entire year.

“We have to switch,” Chenoweth said. “I knew FSA was high, but not that much.”

Effective saving for the county through the sheriff’s department will help with the forthcoming fiscal year.