Williams Sheriff And Commissioners At Odds

Williams County com­mis­sion­ers met on Mon­day, and there was some spir­ited dis­cus­sion between the sher­iff and the com­mis­sion­ers.

While the com­mis­sion­ers called it a “philo­soph­i­cal dif­fer­ence” Sher­iff Steve Towns says it’s the com­mis­sion­ers’ way of “manip­u­lat­ing” his depart­ment.

The dis­agree­ment cen­ters on the com­mis­sion­ers refusal to increase the sheriff’s bud­get to make room for two addi­tional deputies.

The Bryan Times reports that Com­mis­sion Pres­i­dent Alan Word, who is a for­mer county sher­iff him­self, told Sher­iff Towns the com­mis­sion­ers would approve a 13.3 per­cent increase for the Sheriff’s Office. About half of that increase is nec­es­sary to fund raises for road deputies included in their cur­rent three-year con­tract.

Towns was also how­ever, seek­ing about $100,000 in new fund­ing to add two new deputies, bring­ing the total up to 16 road patrol deputies, still five less than 2008.

Accord­ing to Sher­iff Towns, the Williams County Sheriff’s Office is among the low­est funded per capita in the state of Ohio.