A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Six candidates discuss Destin issues — in their own words (with MUGS)

With early voting beginning Aug. 9 for the 2010 Primary Election, The Log asked the six candidates vying for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s seat to answer two Destin-related questions, here is a brief bio of each candidate, followed by their unedited responses.

Larry Ashley has spent the past 20 years with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, and currently serves as chief deputy under current sheriff Ed Spooner. He has served in most departments, divisions and ranks, within the Sheriff’s Office.

Rick Hord is an “Original Viking” having been part of the fourth graduating class at FWB High School. He has been a volunteer with the Destin Fishing Rodeo since 1978, served as chairman in 2005, and has also served as both treasurer and vice chairman. Hord has been with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office since 1989.

Ron Livingston has spent 18 years in law enforcement with the Florida Highway Patrol, where he is a sergeant. Livingston has served in communities throughout the state of Florida.

Steven Menchel is a Destin resident and is a retired federal law enforcement officer with more than 38-years of leadership and management experience. He has worked in the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Army and spent time with the U.S. Customs Service Office of Investigations.

William Patterson is a military veteran who has earned The Distinguished Flying Cross and is also a recipient of the Purple Heart and many other honors. Patterson has served on the Fort Walton Beach City Council, Okaloosa-Walton TPO and served as the Fort Walton Beach Mayor Pro- Tem.

Tony Taylor has more than 33 years of experience in all phases of local law enforcement, including more than 23 years supervising and leading law enforcement officers as a division commander.

As a candidate for Okaloosa County Sheriff, what is the biggest issue/concern you see facing Destin?

Ashley: All government agencies, including the Sheriff’s Office, will continue to struggle with the balance of maintaining necessary services in a continuing economic decline. As sheriff, I will enhance efficiency and cut cost by consolidating services, and by establishing economies of scale by unifying all public safety communications and fleet maintenance services. I will also continue taking our agency toward a paperless environment which will reduce document storage and maintenance costs and create better efficiency in records management. Consolidation is efficient and cost effective.

Hord: Traffic and parking are mentioned to me by more citizens in Destin than any other concern. Drugs, illegal aliens, and burglaries also grab their share of attention. From Destin to Laurel Hill and all points between, however, nothing this year trumps the issue of restoring Public Trust.

I will institute two major reforms to help regain the trust that no public
service agency can survive without.

I'll appoint the Clerk of Courts to act as the finance and payroll
officer for the Sheriff. The Clerk, a seperate elected Constitutional
Officer, will be writing the checks.

The Clerk has a modern and efficient finance system; outsourcing the paperwork will save taxpayer dollars
compared to maintaining those functions in-house. Here in Okaloosa County, the Clerk is already functioning as finance and payroll officer for all departments under the Board of County Commissioners and also for the Supervisor of Elections. In a recent forum, a county commission candidate stated she tried to check the Sheriff's spending record several years ago, but received little or no co-operation from the Sheriff. Had my plan been in effect, she could have easily inspected the Sheriff's checkbook.

I'll also form a Citizens Review Board, similar to those in operation in many communities across the nation. The closest one is in Pensacola. The board will be comprized of volunteer citizens who serve without pay and perform many functions, including serving as a direct pipeline of information to the citizens.
Livingston:  As your sheriff, it is my responsibility to protect and serve the entire community. Destin is a valuable asset to Okaloosa County; I will make sure that the residents, along with the visitors, receive the same level of service as the rest of the county.

Menchel: As a candidate for Sheriff I have knowledge not only based on campaigning door to door in Destin but also as a Destin resident.

As I walk the neighborhoods on the campaign trail the topic that Destin residents routinely ask me about is traffic and my thoughts on how I will address the traffic issues.  Traffic is such a problem that the contract with the City of Destin and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office was enhanced an additional $75,000.00 with a Federal Byrne Grant.  The grant is used for the cost of traffic and state statutory parking enforcement from October 2009 to September 2010 in the City of Destin.  This grant highlights the significance of the traffic problems and I have a variety of ideas to elevate the stop and go traffic Destin residents face on a routine basis.

To begin with, I will reorganize for maximum efficiency the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Division to utilize the four department owned motorcycles.  At the present time the OCSO utilizes these motorcycles for ceremonial purposes (parades and funerals) only.  I intend to immediately place the motorcycles into day to day operations.  I know the people of Destin would appreciate an OCSO motorcycle arriving at the scene of a traffic accident and clearing Highway 98; as opposed to what we all have come to expect—a long wait stuck in traffic.

These motorcycles will also be utilized in enforcing red light running which will significantly reduce traffic accidents, injuries and deaths.

Traffic Officers will also be placed at key intersections during special events to help the flow of traffic along Highway 98.

Traffic however is not the only area that needs to be restructured.  At the present time when an OCSO Deputy makes an arrest in Destin he/she has to transport the prisoner to the County Annex in Shalimar.  At times the Shalimar annex is closed and the Deputy is required to drive to Crestview which will cause the Deputy to be out of the Destin area for hours.  As a viable alternative, I will look into modifying the Destin OCSO substation to temporarily house a prisoner.  This will allow the Destin Deputy to transport the prisoner to the substation and remain in Destin.

The last area of concern is the Gulf oil spill and the impact it will have on this area.  At the present time we have no way of knowing what negative economic impact it will have on our future for years to come.  In addition we face the possibility of contract workers coming into the area that may be illegal aliens. 

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office recently arrested eleven oil spill contract workers who were in the United States illegally. I will not only in Destin but throughout Okaloosa County work with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in apprehending illegal aliens as well as targeting businesses that hire illegal aliens in violation of the law.

Patterson: As almost everyone in the country, we are all faced with doing more with less. Our local economy has faced a triple whammy between the recession, the real estate collapse and the Gulf oil spill.  That spill has had a major impact on our tourist trade that is a major economic engine in our county. 

In the middle of all this, our Sheriff’s office has been decimated by internal crime and corruption.  The major challenge for the incoming Sheriff will be to provide quality affordable law enforcement conducive to the economic recovery of local businesses and restore the people’s confidence in their Sheriff. 

While the Sheriff serves all the people of Okaloosa County, Destin is a source of jobs for people throughout the county.  In as much as Destin has chosen the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office [OCSO] as their law enforcement agent they stand to benefit from these conservative, fiscally responsible approaches to managing the OCSO.

Taylor: The biggest issue I see facing the City of Destin is the same issue facing every other municipality in the state of Florida, our contemporary economy. The declining tax base and revenue shortfalls are forcing municipalities to make increasingly difficult choices regarding quality of life and essential services.

In the past, city leaders have targeted the contract with the OCSO, saying that it’s too costly to the city. Do you agree? Do you see areas that can be cut?

Ashley: I disagree and here’s why: Every city leader analyzes their largest expenditures during budget time – that is what they are supposed to do. The City of Destin and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office work hand in hand every year and have closely examined this issue on every level.  City officials and citizens are always pleased with the services they receive from the Sheriff’s Office and frequently laud the deputies who provide it. Providing the same level of service however would be cost prohibitive for Destin to duplicate with its own police department.

In June 2002 the Destin City Council commissioned the services of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to study the costs and benefits of establishing a Destin City Police Department. That study concluded that doing so would be fiscally challenging and cost prohibitive when compared to the level of services provided by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office under the Destin contract for services. That study is a public document and is still available for review.

The economy of scale and consolidation cost advantages provided by the Sheriff’s Office ensure that the city of Destin is not required to maintain its own records management and dispatch center, crime scene specialists, SRT, K-9, hostage negotiators, firing range, training centers, administrative staff or police Chief.  These benefits along with crime prevention and education programs, professional standards, recruitment and training programs, evidence collection and storage, facilities and equipment are among the advantages that the city of Destin enjoys above and beyond the contract amount for eighteen officers.

The additional deputies provided by the contract work exclusively in the city of Destin because the city has chosen to augment normally available sheriff’s office resources with the added officers. These additional services are provided by local police departments in other municipalities within Okaloosa County.

So Destin has the benefits of a municipal police department without the enormous associated expenses. Consolidation eliminates redundancy and costs.

A reduction in the contract amount means a reduction in personnel, which results in slower response times, extended investigative waiting periods, less traffic enforcement, and the absence of as many routine beach and marine patrol units. In addition, fewer resources are available for proactive patrols and crime prevention.

As an example, this year’s contract amount is a reduction of 6.5% from last year, which equates to the loss of services of 1.2 officers. No additional reductions can be made without further loss of services to city residents.

Hord: This decision rests entirely with the elected City Council of Destin. I do offer some advice: don't rely on statistics alone. Ride a few shifts with the fine Deputies who serve the citizens and taxpayers of Destin. While we tend tto think in terms of cops and crime, a surprising 85-percent of the activity of your Sheriff's Office is non-criminal in nature; 97-percent is never reflected in the official UCR "crime statistics," but 100-percent of it is important to somebody.

Livingston: I do not agree with current contract as it stands. As your Sheriff, I will work hard with the city leaders to make sure that the citizens receive a high level of law enforcement for the lowest impact on the residence. My administration will cut the duplicate fees, from where the Sheriff’s Office is already receiving money through the county budget process. You as Destin citizens are paying for positions that are being used elsewhere within the county, which should not be paid for by the city. We can reduce the vehicle cost, extremely!! I look forward to being your next Sheriff!!

Menchel: I have attended numerous Destin City Council meetings and time after time the cost of the Contract with the City of Destin and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is a topic of conversation.  I think it is safe to say the Destin City Council agrees that it is more cost effective to contract verses starting its own department but based on dwindling revenues the Council is looking for ways to reduce cost which would include the contract with the Sheriff’s Office.

A review of contracts for the City of Destin and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office for the last several years reflects a proposed $84,844.28 decrease in the 2010/2011 budget based on cutting one position.

To begin with, I will reorganize for maximum efficiency the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Division to utilize the four department owned motorcycles.  At the present time the OCSO utilizes these motorcycles for ceremonial purposes (parades and funerals) only.  I intend to immediately place the motorcycles into day to day operations.  I know the people of Destin would appreciate an OCSO motorcycle arriving at the scene of a traffic accident and clearing Highway 98; as opposed to what we all have come to expect—a long wait stuck in traffic.

These motorcycles will also be utilized in enforcing red light running which will significantly reduce traffic accidents, injuries and deaths.

Patterson: Destin has two distinct profiles; the booming economic engine of the summer tourist trade with a population of approximately 41,000 people and the less vigorous winter snowbird city and local population of 12,000 people.  This places unique demands on law enforcement. 

As part of my affordability plan I will conduct a functionally based line item analysis of the budget of the OCSC.  While we all know that the current budget has been scrutinized extensively during the recent forensic audit, this action was focused on disclosure of criminal actions within the organization and not on whether it was doing its job in a fiscally responsible manner.

It is this latter focus that must be a part of the new Sheriff’s office to provide visibility to the people as to what their law enforcement dollar are buying. Since the people of Destin have chosen OCSC as their law enforce agent, this will provide them with high visibility information on where the dollars go and what they are actually buying.  Management of the summer surge is obviously something to focus on. 

This surge effects both Destin and Okaloosa Island.  The economy that creates the surge also creates a revenue stream that should be explored as a means of providing the cyclic needs of law enforcement.  Our budget analysis will give us quantitative information to openly discuss these issues and inform the citizens.  The OCSO and its cost of operations will be much more visible to the people

The Libertarian Voters Guide

VOTE EARLY

As the August 24 Primary Election approaches, Okaloosa County voters have three options to choose from when it comes to placing their vote. Early voting begins Aug. 9 and will be held at the University of Florida REEF facility, 1350 N. Poquito Road in Shalimar, the Robert L.F. Sikes Crestview Library, 1445 Commerce Drive, and the Supervisor of Elections Office Headquarters at 302 Wilson Street North, Ste, 102 in Crestview.

Early voting will be held on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. and on Wednesday and Saturday from 7 a.m.- 3 p.m. Absentee voters can request ballots by phone, mail, website/email, fax or by visiting the Supervisor of Elections office. Precinct voting will take place from 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. on election day.  Voters can now locate their polling place using the voter status lookup tool on the Supervisor of Elections website.

For more information, visit the Supervisor of Elections website at www.govote-okaloosa.com or call 850-689-5600 or 850-651-7272.