What Kind of Deputy Dominates Finance Committee

Who Are You Going To Call?

It is 2 am and you hear strange noises at your front door. Where do you turn for help--a deputy county attorney or a deputy sheriff?

That was the issue that dominated the discussion of the County Commissioner's Finance Meeting last night. The county manager wants to hire a Deputy County Attorney and turned down a request by the Sheriff to add two patrol deputies. Commissioner Linda Shook took strong exception to that priority.

The budget documents say that the deputy county attorney will take over work that is being done by outside attorneys for social services. Of course, what things say and what is really going on behind the scenes is another matter. The real concern is that the county attorney Kenneth R. Hoyle is 81 years old and may one day decide to retire. Some commissioners want to start training a back up although Mr. Hoyle has said nothing about any plans to retire.

Last year the Sheriff asked for four patrol deputies but was given only two. He wanted to add one deputy to each of four shifts so there would be be four patrol deputies on the road at all times. With the drastic rise of gas prices and downturn in the economy, there has been an increase in thefts, and Commissioner Shook argued that protecting the public was one of the most basic responsibilities of government.

As proposed, the county manager would like to spend $88,193 for the county attorney. Commissioner Shook wants to apply that to the $91,426 for the salary and benefits of the two patrol deputies. The Sheriff has indicated that his office can absorb the cost of outfitting the the two deputies with funds seized from his very active campaign against drug dealers.

The Sheriff has been asked to appear at a budget work session scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on June 16th in the Commissioners' Room. It will be followed by a regular commission meeting at 3:00 p.m.

It cannot be argued that Mr. Hoyle does not possess a lot of valuable knowledge of the history behind legal matters. Kenneth R. Hoyle began representing Lee County as its attorney on a retainer basis in 1960. In 1991 he gave up his his general practice to join the Lee County legal staff full time. Prior to doing so he had been Broadway's attorney for 38 years. Among Mr. Hoyle's many career honors are his election as president of the North Carolina State Bar and North Carolina Bar Association General Practice Hall of Fame. It is unrealistic that simply hiring a deputy attorney is going to replace that institutional knowledge should Mr. Hoyle leave. It is something that just can't be replaced.

Note: Although Commissioner Rieves refused to conduct the finance meeting in a way that it could be broadcast and recorded on the Internet, the e-Lee Dispatch made its own av recording. They can run but they can't hide. Hopefully, County Commissioner Chairman Bob Brown will decide to record the Budget Work Session since it is in the room set up for such recording.