Clark County Sheriff will Appear in Court Today for Civil Suit He's Filed Against the Clark County Law Enforcement Committe
Wednesday, April 1st, 2015 -- 12:18 PM
-Clark County Sheriff Greg Herrick will appear in Clark County Court today for a civil suit he's filed against the Clark County Law Enforcement Committee and the county board chair.This situation began back in January when the Sheriff's Department purchased 5 vehicles from various dealerships without committee or board approval including a Dodge Charger, two Chevy Tahoe, 2 Ford SUV AWD Eco Boosts and one Dodge Ram 1500. The total for the vehicles came to over $186,000.
According to the LEC minutes from January, the LEC asked if the order of the vehicles could be canceled as they had not approved them, but it was too late at that point. The orders were placed before the January meeting was even held. The LEC was unable to hear from Sheriff Herrick as he was not present at that meeting.
According to the LEC minutes from the next meeting in February, the LEC was able to vent their frustration to Sheriff Herrick directly. They asked him why he chose to purchase the vehicles without their consent as it's always been done in the past. Sheriff Herrick stated that he never gave it a thought; he was pushing things forward, looking into the future and getting things done ahead of time. He also stated that he came in under budget with the purchases and he bought vehicles that will give them the best trade in value later.
The biggest concern the committee had for the vehicles was the Dodge Ram 1500. They did approve the other vehicle purchases, but later asked him to cancel the order for the truck. They wondered why he purchased a vehicle like that and not another Tahoe or SUV. Sheriff Herrick stated that he was doing what his constituents asked him. He said people have told him the Sheriff's Department should get a truck so he can respond to calls in the woods or in farmers' fields if need be. One LEC member brought up the fact that her constituents believe that the sheriff bought that truck for his personal use. The sheriff again stated he was just doing what his constituents asked and he won't be using the truck for personal use. He stated it's a multifunctional vehicle for the entire department.
In the sheriff's claim, he states that the committee is interfering with his authority to manage the department's equipment and budget. He would like a judge to order the committee to allow him to make spending decisions. The criminal complaint went on to say "Herrick believed that if he challenged the (committee's) decision to stop or cancel the purchase of the truck, the (committee) would withhold funds from future sheriff's department budgets which would cause irreparable harm to the Clark County Sheriff's Office." The committee's "actions are an impermissible micro-management of the sheriff's office operation."
The injunction hearing for the case is this afternoon at 2:45pm. However, there is an LEC committee meeting being held beforehand where, according to the agenda, they will confer with legal counsel concerning strategy to the pending litigation.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.