Steward cites his experience; Dunn and Olson Fault his leadership  

Park County Sheriff Scott Steward says his challengers lack the leadership experience needed for the job, while they say his leadership has been lacking.

Steward faces former Powell-area deputy Roger Dunn and current Powell-based Deputy Bruce Olson in next week’s Republican primary election.

“I think when you look at these candidates and you look at all of us, I think what you need to do is really look at the actual experience we have,” Steward said at an Aug. 5 forum at Northwest College. “... Is it just years of service? Or is it years of leadership and leadership experience and proven leadership experience?”

Steward, who lives in Wapiti, said he was a leader with the U.S. Marine Corps during four years of military service and has spent 13 of his 28 years with the sheriff’s office in a leadership post. That includes time as a patrol lieutenant, undersheriff and, for the last nine years, as sheriff.

Steward — along with Olson — noted Dunn never served as a supervisor during his more than 22 years with the department and has been away from the job for two years. Olson said Dunn is “a really nice guy,” but noted he’s no longer a certified peace officer, so “he has no power of arrest, can’t drive a marked patrol car or back up his deputies.”

Dunn, who now serves as a substitute driver for the Powell Senior Center, has said he would do whatever it takes to get re-certified if he’s elected sheriff.

Steward downplayed Olson’s experience as well. Olson spent 14 years as a patrol sergeant and a year and a half as jail administrator, but Steward said Olson’s stint running the jail was 25 years ago “for an agency or department about a third of what we have today with budget and manpower.”

“If you had a business of 60 men and women and a $5 million budget, would you fire your CEO and bring in somebody with very little experience when they (the CEO) have already been doing a good job in the community?” Steward asked the audience.

Olson, meanwhile, charged that Steward’s leadership “has demonstrated a high turnover rate in the department.”

“Because of his lack of leadership, morale is at an all-time low point,” Olson added, saying that employees are leaving “at an alarming rate and at a great cost to the taxpayers of Park County.”

The department has lost 42 employees over the past nine years, Steward has said, with four being retirees and seven being fired or asked to leave.

Both Dunn and Olson said Steward has failed to show care and concern for department employees.

A deputy just completed his 30th year on the job and there “wasn’t a word said about it,” Olson said.

“When people do a good job, they go above and beyond, I think you need to recognize that,” he said.

Steward said the top two concerns he heard from departing deputies were about salaries and shift work. In addition to his recent successful push for higher pay and shuffling the schedule of shift work, Steward said he’s changed the department’s recruiting methods to find people who want to stay a long time.

He also said the problem isn’t specific to Park County and is instead a national trend; Olson and Dunn said Park County doesn’t need to follow that trend.

Dunn faulted Steward for not acting quickly enough to raise pay and address officer departures to better-paying agencies.

“Over, what, the last eight, nine years, it’s just now come to some conclusion as to getting raises and stuff,” Dunn said. “How long does it take? How many did we lose until then?”

Dunn and Olson have both suggested that Steward should have taken the $200,000 to $400,000 he’s annually returned from his budget to the county’s general fund and instead repurposed it to boost officer wages.

“You need to reassign that money and put it where it’s needed most,” Dunn said. “Maybe you don’t need to replace your desks this year, but you need to keep the employees.”

He acknowledged the sheriff doesn’t control a lot of things related to the budget, but said the sheriff needs to work with the commissioners to do whatever it takes.

Commissioners set the sheriff’s budget and employee pay rates; acting on a request from Steward, they raised deputies’ pay by 12 percent this year.

Olson also criticized Steward for having leftover money at all.

“That’s a lot of money, and if you haven’t been able to figure out your budget any closer than that, I’m not sure I would call that fiscally responsible,” Olson said.

Steward rejected the idea of shuffling money among different areas of the budget as inappropriate.

“You identify those line items specifically for a specific purpose — whether it be for training, whether it be for equipment — and then you adhere to that,” Steward said, adding, “If you’ve got a bunch of money left over in ammunition or (the) furniture budget, you don’t go spend it on other things. You stay to that and you adhere to that as best you can and leave it for those specific line items, rather than spend the money just to spend it because you have it.”

Steward also said he found it ironic that he was being criticized for not spending taxpayer money.

Another criticism from Olson and Dunn was about the sheriff’s communication with the public and other law enforcement agencies.

Olson said that within his first 100 days in office, he would hold town hall meetings in Clark, Cody, Powell and Meeteetse.

Dunn said the sheriff needs to get out and meet people all the time and not just during election years.

“I’ve talked to several (people) and I said, ‘Are you getting what you expect from law enforcement?’ They said, ‘No,’ and several said they don’t even know who the sheriff is,” Dunn said. “I’m thinking community involvement includes the whole county — not just the selected few you have time for. You have to make time for the whole community.”

Steward responded that he’s out in the community quite a bit.

“I think I’m very open to the public,” Steward said, saying he’s often approached on the street with concerns.

He also said that while town halls are great, they sometimes only draw a few people.

“I don’t feel that they’re valid problems,” Steward said generally of the criticisms that have been raised by his opponents. “I think they’re exaggerating issues for political agendas.”

Dunn and Olson have each made vague comments about the sheriff needing to have honesty and integrity. Steward said last week that he had faltered “a little bit” in his personal life in the past, but said he’s dealt with those issues and is now moving forward.