SCC Sheriff Office Road Patrol is not the cause of overtime. Overtime is caused by extenuating circumstances. Do you all think so little of these fine men and women who go to work every day to support their families and serve their community? The County Commissioners should be supporting the new Sheriff's Administration, but it seems to me that everything I've read in the newspaper has been to the contrary - they have done nothing but challenge them and give them a hard time from the moment they got into office. Even admonishing the Sheriff for what he spent on new uniforms for himself and the Undersheriff. There was a new Administration coming in COMMISSIONERS, YOU set the 2009 budget, it was YOUR responsibility to ensure that their was enough money to order uniforms. Did you check a catalog to see the price of uniforms? What else did I read, Oh yes, we can't forget the debacle you made this summer over the new boat the deparment worked so hard for. You kept tabling it, and tabling it, so that Dan LaFoille could travel and check everything out that had already been done by the competent Sheriff's office. My my my, what a bunch of bafoons you all are! There's an old saying, that a little bit of power in the wrong hands is a dangerous thing...this is proof of that!

Don't back down Jerry Zellar. We were all mislead by voting for Sheriff Harris and you can bet we wont be voting for him again. If Harris goes through with his law suit he Will be recalled. The only support he has is his employees that would like to keep their OVERTIME.

While your correct about the Road Patrol grant being unmatched and it cover the Wages of the officers, It has a limit. The fact is that this department is spending thousands of dollars more than it takes in on the grant to run the road patrol. Is it too much to expect Harris to not exceed the grant amount with the road patrols cost? This is all that is expected of you by us.

So, Chairperson Zellar wants to go back to the way it was for the last 30+ years. Isn't that what got the Sheriff's Department into the mess it is in? You have no idea what it takes to run a law enforcement agency, yet you are going to tell the shriff exactly that. Stick to what you know...PAPER! I agree with the other comment made about moving forward. It is impossible to move forward when your county officials want status quo. Or they claim to want change but aren't willing to put up the money to do that. You want status quo? Where is the past sheriff now? Right. And his actions didn't just start since he left the office and you all knew it. Shame on the whole board for not giving Sheriff Harris the money and tools he needs to operate the facility like the people of Schoolcraft County elected him to do!

I can't believe that you honestly think that there are a number a police officers sleep on a backroad. Maybe you should know that police officers,unlike most jobs, have to a count for every minutes of their work day. A daily log is kept (and no you can not write down, cruised backroad) this log must be detailed, and a description of the vehicle, horse power of any one that you come into contact with and any other important detail but be written on that log. In addition when you get back to the office your log must be filed, cuz yes, PEOPLE like you want to know were "your" money is going. So to you Mr. Citizen I would like to see a detailed log of your work day. Don't leave out a minute or a second, and if you do I will have to assume you are sleeping in a corner at your office. Thank you. Maybe next time you see a police officer you will thank them, for their hard work (remember while you are sleeping, these officers are protecting and serving the community).

Schoolcraft County Sheriff Department road patrol officers are paid by an unmatched government grant. The county does not pay their wages, the grant does.

I am willing to bet that at this time half of the cops in the UP are on a backroad sleeping right now!!!!

The comment posted below though well written is filled with inaccuracies. No doubt written by a county commissioner. There has not been $55,000 in overtime.

The current Sheriff Administration has been in office for less than a year trying to clean up over 20 years of previous inept management. Whether the Undersheriff is working the afternoon shift or the day shift should be of no consequence to the commissioners. The budget the current Sheriff's department is currently working with is one the Commissioners put together. A group of men who have no business experience, and no law enforcement background. Dating back to their first disagreement on the cost of uniforms Grant Harris purchased. Jerry Zellar said for thirty years the undersheriff position has been part-time, and sees no reason why it shouldn't go back to that, because he feels they the commissioners have not gotten what they want. Well, it takes more than 8 months to fix 20 years. And, that statement alone shows the mentality of why this county cannot move forward, because it's the mentality of if it's been good for thirty years, it'll be good for thirty more. Progressive thinking and good sound management is not their forte. The commissioners are returning in excess of $30,000 to pay for two road patrol officers - unbelievable. All these inexperienced men have done is make a county a little less safer. They've tried to humiliate proud men, who help keep us safe. Shame on you Schoolcraft County Commissioners, I for one, will be the first to vote you out of office, you have not made a budget stronger, you have kicked an office in the stomach and made it ache, you have made intelligent men and women of this county look at you and shake their heads and walk away in a different direction, because they are now ashamed to have ever voted you into office, and cannot wait until you are out. Many Sheriff Departments across the country have sued and won successfully against County Commissions who have tried to micro manage a department and budget they do not know or understand. I support our local Sheriff Department and I urge all of you to show your support.

just to straighten out some facts...

The dept has 2 road patrol officers, of cours they are gonna make alot of money and overtime because there is no one else to call in to work.

They cant hire another deputy without the approval of the county board... in case you cant read the story, they tryign to cut back on the only 2 we have.

As putting a deputy out 8 hours a day 5 days a week being expensive, most police work 12 hour shifts

As for the 911 system, thats another thing the county board has to approve. Which will cost more money for the county, since your already complaing about money.

The sheriff has done way more in the less of a year as sheriff then our last sheriff did for 20+ years.

Yes we do need public service but; little Manistique has city/state/tribal and sheriff department that has 12-13 under-sheriffs. Is'nt this a little much for such a small town?

I voted for sheriff Harris and I am very disappointed in his management of the Jail and his inability to control over time costs of over $55,000 this year. For those that have not been following this, Grant lied to the board and told him the the under Sheriff was going to work afternoons to help the over time and to better run the jail. Well that was a lie that he admitted to at a county board meeting. The under sheriff was never going to work afternoons. The need to hire the under sheriff full time was due to Harris not having any expirence or idea how to run the department.

Futhermore I am disapointed that Harris would allow one of his duputys to make over $80,000 this year in wages. With that amount of money he should have hired more staff.

The Road Patrol is not being managed by Harris and he is putting an officer out 8 hours per day or longer 5 days a week. Vehicle costs, gas, tires, wages benefits etc. This is costing much more than the State Secondary road patrol is covering with the wages. I would like to see Harris put a plan together that would just use the road patrol dollars for that program and use the officer in the jail the rest of the time. What is so wrong with being responsible with tax payers dollars Grant?

I would also like to comment that Harris should consider bringing back the 911 dispatching to Schoolcraft County, this along with eliminating excess overtime and working with the County Board would work better than trying to beat them in court. Further more sending your friends and employees to County Board meetings to strong arm and threaten the board members with lawsuits and with recall elections is not going to get the support of the citizens of Schoolcraft County, on the other hand it may be Grant that may be the best person to recall. My outlook on Grant may be changed in the future if Sheriff stops whining and becomes what he told us he would do when elected.

Don't need that many "cops" are you crazy? When you or your family member(s) are in need of an ambulance, first reponder, rescue from a fire, a burning vehicle, a traffic accident, a bar fight, an asault, etc who are you going to call? That's right the Sheriff Department. Do you want them to say Sorry Mr. Citizen the County Board cut our budget just like you wanted them to and we don't have anyone that can respond at this time, but lets see if we can call someone in (oh, I'm sorry that ONE road patrol officer (remember you didn't want to many "cops", s/he is on vacation).

Sheriff Harris undoubtedly has a full plate of issues that have plagued the Schoolcraft County Jail for many years, now we are witnessing the many years of inaction that has now come to fruition. A deteriorating facility, aging patrol vehicles, and the Michigan Department of Corrections shifting more responsibilities onto the counties with early release of thousands of prisoners with the highest unemployment rate in the nation. These problems do not go away, they increase exponentially without the proper funding. Today, we are witnessing our state enthralled in a tremendous budget battle that will cut revenue sharing to our communities, this will shave approximately $163 million in aid to municipalities for police and fire protection. These cuts will clearly effect Manistique Public Safety, as they provide police protection, ambulance services, and facilitate the operations of our volunteer fire department. Manistique City officials have to be concerned as they await the final percentage of revenue sharing cuts if and when the state budget is passed into law. Recently, Michigan State Police Troopers have been hit layoffs with more to come, while limiting their patrols to a 120 miles per shift. The culmination of all these issues are hopefully viewed by our County Commissioners, the protection of the public must be funded completely and responsibly.

They should be doing these kind of cuts all around the UP we dont need all of these cops!!!!!!!!!!!! and that is a fact!!!!!!!!!!!

This sheriff hasn't even been on the job for one year yet. He is still being held accountable for mistakes made by the past sheriff. Schoolcraft County voted overwhelmingly to elect Grant Harris to this job so there could be changes made in a broken and corrupt sheriff's department. Of course that is going to cost money! You want him to fix the department, yet you won't give him the funds to do so. Shame on the county board. Who, by the way, are lay people voted in to four year terms. Sheriff Harris has extensive law enforcement experience, as well as the education in the administrative part of the department. Untie his hands and give him some time to do the clean up work that needs to be done over there. The deputies days of "free lunches" on the county dollar are over. And when I say free lunches, I mean that literally. No where else do county employees get eat on the counties nickel.....EVERY DAY!

First off this position was part time for 30+ years and the council attempted to make it full time, which they did for a period of time.
The full time position does not justify itself and I can see that the council return it to a part time position. Only 8 traffic tickets and many hours of overtime? It doesn't add up to justify this position kept at full time.
Sue who? What a threat....

Good luck Mr. Harris, we cant afford any more cuts with the Sheriff's Dept. We only have 2 road patrol officers, and that's not enough, but they want to cut it down to 1. The county board is destroying the county, and someone needs to stand up against them.