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Hernando Today

Sheriff Oversight Works Well Officials Say

Incorporating emergency management cuts response times, eliminates redundancies

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: May 19, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE -

During the unprecedented 2004 hurricane season, Capt. Joe Eckstein wasn't always happy with the response times from Tallahassee.
As Citrus County's emergency management director, Eckstein needed help from other agencies — and he needed the resources faster than the state's Emergency Management Division could coordinate them, he recalled Monday.
So he went to his boss, Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsy.
"When I get frustrated with that, it's real simple," Eckstein said. "I call the sheriff and say, 'These are the resources I need.' He calls other sheriffs and it's done, no questions asked."
The expedited process to secure mutual aid is one of the big advantages of having the emergency management director work for the sheriff's office rather than in a separate county department, Eckstein said.
It's a structure that Citrus County has had in place since the mid-1980s, and one Hernando would do well to consider, he said.
"Any disaster you have out there, who do you see? You see deputy sheriffs," Eckstein said. "To me it only makes sense to put emergency management under the sheriff, because he's going to be the one out there working disasters anyway."
The Hernando County Commission is expected to give its blessing today to investigate the option to fold the Emergency Management Department into the sheriff's office. The commission meets at 9 a.m. in the County Government Center in Brooksville; the emergency management discussion is slated for 4:45 p.m.
All five commissioners polled Monday said they thought the idea has tremendous potential to maintain or even improve the county's level of response to disasters and probably save money at the same time.
"It makes perfect sense to me," Commissioner Dave Russell said. "I can't help but see how it could benefit the county, the sheriff's office, the process and the taxpayers."
County Administrator David Hamilton floated the idea in the wake of the May 9 firing of the department's director, Tom Leto. Hamilton determined that Leto had provided an excessive amount of overtime to his secretary, Stephanie Anderson, and that the two were romantically involved. Leto denies the charges and has said he plans to appeal.
"We might capitalize on the situation to streamline," Russell said.
Hamilton wrote in a memo to commissioners last week that Sheriff Richard Nugent has said he is open to exploring the idea.
Nugent said Monday that he thinks the restructuring would probably be "viable."
Nugent qualified his statements by saying he hasn't done an in-depth investigation into the issue. But he also used the word "streamline" to describe the possible benefit. He said the shift might provide for more oversight to avoid the kind of turmoil that has embroiled the department in recent weeks.
Nugent and several commissioners pointed out that the county's Emergency Operations Center, which opened last year, is a stone's throw from his office. His staff already shares the building, which houses the county's recently-centralized dispatch system.
"There might be some more sharing of technology that maybe we don't have today," Nugent said.
Precise statistics weren't available Monday, but it's not uncommon among Florida counties to have emergency management under the sheriff's purview, said Mike Stone, spokesman for the state's Emergency Management Division in Tallahassee. More frequently, emergency management is part of the county's fire rescue division, Stone said.
One that has gone with the sheriff option is Leon County. Its county seat: Tallahassee.
Up until 1999, Leon County's emergency management division fell under the county commission's purview. Then, after the 1998 hurricane season, the county sheriff recommended that Leon change the structure to eliminate redundancies, said Leon County Emergency Management Director Richard Smith.
"It's worked real well here," Smith said.
The Citrus County Commission put its structure in place around 1987, at the same time counties had to start complying with the standards of the 911 system, said Eckstein, who was a dispatcher for the sheriff's office at the time. During emergencies, Eckstein communicates directly with the county administrator and commission chairman.
He noted other benefits to his county's current structure, such as the "tremendous amount" of state and federal grant money available for emergency management that Eckstein said a law enforcement agency "would have a better shot" at securing.
Citrus County Commissioner Gary Bartell said he has seen firsthand the effectiveness of the structure.
"The proof is in the pudding, and during emergency conditions we all team together," Bartell said. "It's not been 'I,' it's been 'We.' We are kept in the loop on all occasions and all accords if there's an emergency developing."
Bartell said it isn't clear whether the structure saves money, "but I can tell you from a public safety standpoint, it works."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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