Posted on

Unmarked sheriff’s department vehicles will get GPS tracking

Unmarked sheriff’s department vehicles will soon have GPS tracking like other squads and county-owned vehicles.

At the July 11 county finance committee meeting, members received an update from sheriff Larry Woebbeking that they would be adding tracking of vehicles driven by himself, the chief deputy and investigators to the sheriff’s department existing Spillman data management system. The county already uses the Spillman system to track in real-time the locations of the deputy’s squads while they are in the county.

He told committee members that he felt it would make more sense to add the law enforcement vehicles to the system that the county already uses rather than going through another vendor for the service.

The county is in the process of getting GPS monitoring devices on all countyowned vehicles which will allow the county to determine where and when they were being used.

While the tracking would give increased accountability for how county-owned vehicles were being used, county officials have emphasized that it is a safety measure for when county employees are in the field in case something goes wrong. The county plans to implement the monitoring devices on all county-owned vehicles.

In addition to the law enforcement squads, there is also existing tracking on all the county highway department patrol trucks.

“It sounds like a win- win situation,” said county board chairman Jim Metz of the sheriff’s department going with the Spillman system while meeting the county’s desire to have additional tracking.

Woebbeking noted the county’s Spillman system only monitors the vehicles while they are in the county. There are many times when sheriff’s department vehicles go outside of the county.

Woebbeking noted that in these situations the individuals should be logging with the department where they are going and why. He said the county would be covered through this in case there was improper use taking place.

In other business, personnel committee members gave their approval to increasing the emergency management director’s position from 35 hours per week to 40 hours per week permanently beginning with the 2025 budget.

The position was boosted an additional five hours per week last year using grant funding through the health department. There has been concern that with the amount of increased workload in the oneperson department, that the specific grant-funded tasks were not getting done.

Prior to action by the personnel committee, the change was approved by the finance committee on July 11.

Health Director Michelle Cahoon noted the emergency management position has changed significantly following COVID with additional responsibilities on it from the state level.

“It has never been what it is now,” Cahoon said of in the past when the position was filled by a part-time employee. She also noted that there are no other departments in the county with only one person in them.

Chuck Zenner, who chairs both the personnel and finance committees agreed that it needed to be moved up to 40 hours per week.

During the finance meeting, board member Mike Bub said he didn’t disagree with the need for the additional hours, but was uncomfortable with expanding hours outside the budget cycle. “Why isn’t this proposed as part of the budget cycle?” Bub asked.

Cahoon said that action by the committee would set into motion a process that would have to be done. In order to have it go into place with the new budget they needed to act now.

“You are kind of pre-approving a budget,” Bub said of the change at this time.

In the end, committee members on both committees gave their approval to increasing the authorization for the position to 40 hours per week beginning in January 2025.

LATEST NEWS