March 6, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the March 6, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item, “Employee sick time/PTO accrual and payouts” was tabled.

The second agenda item was “Surplus Funds Request.”

After past meetings, we should all be experts on what a Request for Surplus Funds entails. The surplus request had been approved by the County Attorney and the County Treasurer. The surplus funds amount was $99,140.51 for Indian Point Condo Unit #1032. This seemed like an unusually high surplus amount, but perhaps there was a bit of a bidding war on the property at the tax sale.

The surplus funds request was approved unanimously by the Commission.

The third agenda item was “Discuss EMA transfer and building control.”

Presiding Commissioner Skelton stated that he had talked to many different EMA directors at county conferences and they had all recommended that it would be best for the Emergency Management Agency to stay under the control of the Commission. One of the main reasons for this was that the responsibilities of the EMA were much broader than just law enforcement.

Commissioner Gohagan mentioned that the Sheriff’s Office paid for half of the cost of the EMA building and the county building in Montreal. He felt that Commissioner Steve Dougan would be the best choice for overseeing the EMA because he had so much past experience with search and rescue operations.

Commissioner Dougan commented that while he initially felt EMA should be under the Sheriff, he was fine with taking responsibility for it.

Chief Deputy Hines clarified that while the Sheriff’s Office would be happy to take on the EMA, they just wanted to be team players. They weren’t asking for it, but they would do it if asked. Their real desire was to move the Mapping and Addressing Office closer to town and use some of the vehicle bays in the EMA property for vehicle evidence searches.

The EMA Director said that they are working on a plan to share space with the Sheriff’s Office and cordon off a secure area that could be used by the deputies for evidence processing and storage. He will also prepare a regular monthly or quarterly briefing for the Commission as requested by Commissioner Dougan.

The fourth agenda item was “Discuss realignment of Human Trafficking Program.”

Presiding Commissioner Skelton and Chief Deputy Hines discussed the future of the Human Trafficking program and its funding. The concern for both parties was that the federal funding was not reliably consistent from year to year and that would make it difficult to use that money for funding employee positions.

Chief Deputy Hines made clear that the goal of the department is to make the investigations unit more proactive in the future. Their participation in the Mid-Mo Drug Task Force remains a priority for the Sheriff’s Office.

A representative from the Human Trafficking Program explained that the funds have been used to pay for training and equipment. They have formed an ad hoc task force that is made up of law enforcement members and victim advocates.

The fifth agenda item was “NaCo Legislative Conference Briefing.”

Presiding Commissioner Skelton attended the conference and he said that while the conference does cost money, it allows the county to make valuable contacts at the national level that can prove worthwhile in the future. He described the general underlying theme of the NaCo presentations as constant complaining about the current down-sizing of the federal government and workforce.

Congressman Sam Graves, the Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, spoke at the conference and he told the audience that they will be changing the federal spending focus from sidewalks and bike paths to roads and bridges. Skelton was also able to spend some time talking to Will Scharf, President Trump’s staff secretary.

The final agenda item was (once again) “Accounting Policy & Procedure Review.”, so I jimmied open a back window, tied a few bed sheets together, and rappelled out of the building.

And that was that.