County bestows bounty on sheriff

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

The Larimer County Sheriff's Office was the biggest beneficiary when the county commissioners found themselves in the unusual position of doling out the dough.

Following through on an earlier pledge, the commissioners in an April vote agreed to provide the sheriff with an additional $497,000 this year to hire more jail staff. The money will come from general fund reserves.

The vote was split with Commissioners Karen Wagner and Kathay Rennels maintaining that the expenditure was necessary to deal with potentially dangerous situations resulting from understaffing. They also expressed hope the hirings would buy more time to find a lasting fix for the crowded jail.

"We're still putting people at risk," Rennels said at a previous work session. "I just have a bad feeling in my heart about the detention center."

Commissioner Glenn Gibson dissented. He protested that there was no funding source for the $1.1 million required for the continuing salary commitment. Gibson also objected that there were no assurances the sheriff would spend the money as intended.

"[Sheriff Jim Alderden] chooses to create these safety issues," said Gibson, who has frequently butted heads with the sheriff over budgeting. "I want to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Alderden later dismissed Gibson's claim. "He keeps beating that same drum, and it's just not true," said the sheriff. "That's just nonsense."

Actually, Alderden said, two years ago he requested six deputies to reopen a special housing unit but the commissioners authorized only one. Alderden said that was insufficient to staff the unit, which remains closed, so he instead assigned the deputy to handle administrative and internal affairs matters associated with the jail.

In a separate but related action, the commissioners unanimously agreed to allocate $500,000 to equip sheriff's vehicles with mobile computers to improve communications and reduce paperwork. The department also received another $750,000 toward the first phase of a modern 800-megahertz radio system. It is expected to improve communications among law enforcement agencies and other county departments.

Money for those items will come from the $3.6 million in funds carried over from last year by departments that didn't spend their entire budgets.

Without the 15 additional deputies and one mental health worker, Alderden maintained it might become necessary to close a portion of the jail and place a cap on the number of inmates it could accommodate. That, he said, could lead to releasing more prisoners before they completed their sentences, as well as making it impossible to imprison those committing less-serious offenses.