The Wright County Board of Commissioners decided Tuesday it wanted a bit more information before voting to hire a new lieutenant in the sheriff’s department.

 

One of the items on Tuesday’s meeting agenda was replacing the position of Lt. Greg Findley, who is retiring May 31.

 

Earlier in the meeting, the board had already approved backfilling the position of Jail Lt. Tim Pippo, effective July 28 and Deputy Bernie Williamson, who retired May 22.

 

But Dist. 2 Commissioner Vetsch said he wanted to pull the Findley item from the agenda for more discussion.

 

Earlier this year, the sheriff’s department decided to go through a restructuring, and Vetsch wanted to know how filling the open position would affect that restructuring.

 

“We need to talk about whether we need to backfill this position,” he said. “I think it would be a good chance for us to brainstorm about a little bit about what we have as far as staffing.”

 

Commissioner Michael Potter agreed.

 

“With the concerns we’ve had with the sheriff’s department restructuring and all the talk surrounding it, it would be a good idea to sit down and get a good understanding,” he said, “just to make sure there’s no surprises and misinformation about what’s going on here, so we have the peace of mind that we’re looking in to everything that’s going on here.”

 

Commissioner Charles Borrell said he was okay with getting more information, “but I don’t want to make it look like the board is micromanaging the sheriff’s office,” he said. 

 

He suggested inviting the sheriff to a committee meeting as a whole, to give the board an update. 

 

“I don’t think that would be out of line,” he said.

 

Vetsch said he just wanted to get more information, since he wasn’t on the board when the restructuring issue began.

 

“Command staff positions don’t open up very often, and this is one of the few opportunities, with the retirement, where we could discuss the need,” he said. “I just want some justification that we’re being good fiscal stewards with the money.”

 

Members of the board agreed and directed staff to contact the sheriff and set up a meeting date.