WillCo Sheriff asks for more deputies

The Williams County Sheriff’s Department is asking the County Commission for more staffing. Sheriff Steve Towns met with commissioners to talk about his request for three new deputies, saying the department is “in dire need” of additional personnel. Towns told the commissioners that even with three more deputies, the department would still be well short of the staffing level before cuts were made to the county budget and eight sheriff’s office personnel were laid off. Towns said hiring three more deputies would help ease overtime costs. The commissioners need to see documentation about the number of calls the sheriff’s office responded to annually for a 7 year time period between 2008 and 2015. The department has 15 road deputies and three office staff, along with the sheriff.