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Commissioner responds to Sheriff Moore's comments about unsafe equipment "…It's my intention, and I feel like the intention of the rest of this commission, we do not want any of our deputies out there in unsafe equipment," said Clarke County Commissioner Paul Bradford. "We are going to do what it takes to make sure they have proper equipment where they can transport themselves safely and not be a hazard to the public." Bradford responded to comments made by Sheriff Bobby Moore at a Sept. 17 meeting of the Barlow Bend Community Action League. Moore complained about the need for new vehicles for his department to replace worn out ones. He also addressed the need for a sheriff sub-station in District 4, which he had previously asked the commission about. Bradford said he also spoke with the sheriff at a Sept. 20 budget meeting. "You read this article (in last week's issue of The Democrat)," Bradford said, "and it's the mean old county commission will not give us any money. That's not the case." Earlier this year, when Bradford was chairman of the county commission, "Sheriff Moore came to us. He had a problem. He was not able to hire deputies because the pay scale was low. "I got with the county administrator. I set up a meeting with the county attorney, Bruce Wilson, the administrator, and Sheriff Moore. We went and looked at the pay scales (in) two or three meetings over a couple weeks of time. "We put in a new pay scale that raised the officers' pay," the commissioner said. "Some of them got as high as a $1.50-anhour raise. We raised the starting pay up over a dollar-an-hour - that helped him be able to hire some people. He came to us with that problem, and we responded." In regard to vehicles, two and sometimes three vehicles have been included in the fiscal budget, Bradford said. Under former Sheriff Jack Day, there was an issue where some vehicles had been involved in accidents. "We had to do some things to correct that issue." There is money for two vehicles in the 2008 budget. "We talked to him about some of these old cars - were there some that were worth repairing to help us out in this tight (financial situation)? He said there were. They are getting that done. "We also mentioned to him about going to Montgomery," Bradford said. "The state of Alabama has some good surplus vehicles sometimes. Maybe we could get a car or so to help us get through this crunch. "…The county expects us (the commission and the sheriff) to work together, and we are going to work together. It kind of upsets me. If the sheriff has got a problem, he should come to us and we shouldn't have to read it in the newspaper." Bradford said the new budget has money for five new bulletproof vests that Moore asked for. "When we have been made aware of problems, we have responded," the commissioner said. "…We have a $6 million budget in our general fund this year. The sheriff's department will receive $1.9 million." That's approximately 30 percent of the 2008 budget, he said. "It's not like he doesn't get any money. It takes a lot of money to run that department." The 2008 allotment to the sheriff's department is lower than the $2,132,000.00 million allotment in the fiscal 2007 budget. However, Anne Deloise Morris, county administrator, said the reduction in the 2008 budget is due to expected lower costs in inmate health care. Bradford also addressed the sheriff's request for a county sub-station in District 4. He said he had never heard the request, and Bradford asked the other commission members if they had ever heard of the request. Only Commission Chairman Joe Hunt said he had possibly talked to Moore regarding the regional station. "If a person goes to the commission chairperson, he would consider that as having made a contact with the commission, wouldn't he?" said Commissioner Patricia DuBose. "He would certainly make that as a point to a commissioner - I wouldn't say the commission," Bradford said. "It has not come up in here. I have not heard of it. "…These are pretty serious charges that he is leveling against us. We see some things that other people don't see. "The sheriff's office got a $31,000 grant for law enforcement (from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs)," he said. "These funds had to be repaid by the county commission because the funds were not administered properly, and they wanted their money back. (Moore was not sheriff at the time.) "…The county commission had to come up with $31,000 to repay this grant. Now, that's almost two cars right there." In addition, "when we get cars, we like for them to be taken care of," Bradford said. "There is a deputy sheriff that is still on the payroll that was written up by the Sheriff's Department because he was turned in by a citizen of this county for spinning doughnuts in a county deputy's car. (The incident did not happen under the current sheriff's administration.)
"To me, that's not taking care of what you have been given….He (the deputy) was disciplined for it."
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