Supervisors approve additional deputy

MT. PLEASANT — After a passionate pursuit by Sheriff Rich McNamee supported by school representatives and the community, Henry County Board of Supervisors approved his request for an additional deputy position to fill county needs for school resource officers.

  Buy Photo

When Henry County Sheriff Rich McNamee approached the Board of Supervisors asking that they reconsider their initial denial to add a 13th deputy position to fill the needs of school resource officers throughout the county last week, the supervisors asked for additional time to gather information before deciding.

Supervisor Marc Lindeen stated he wished to look further into potential legislation that dealt with the topic of school resource officers, and Supervisor Chad White asked to gather additional information about the cities of Winfield and New London partnering with the school instead of the sheriff’s office.

In a room filled to the brim with Henry County citizens, McNamee returned for the supervisors’ decision Tuesday, April 2.

“I appreciate you allowing me to come back and get an answer today,” McNamee told the board.

“I did a little research over the last week to talk about mass shootings in schools,” he said. “Since 2018, there’s been 192 shootings in schools in America. 338 people have lost their lives or been hurt in a school shooting in America in the last six years. We’ve had 10 active school shootings in 2024 already and this is April 2. One of those, we all know, was in Perry, Iowa, right here, only two hours away.”

“I’m trying to take a proactive approach to this,” McNamee continued. “And that’s why I asked you to reconsider my denied proposal for a deputy back in January. We need to take an active approach to this kind of stuff.”

McNamee reminded the board that his request for the additional deputy comes from New London Community School District asking to make their current part-time school resource officer full-time next year and Winfield-Mt. Union requesting a part-time school resource officer for next year, as well.

New London Superintendent Chad Wahls and Winfield-Mt. Union Principal Gaige Gill also spoke to the supervisors in support of adding the deputy that would enable their school resource officer need to be filled.

For both Gill and Wahls, having a school resource officer means more than protecting against school shootings. It means educating students and providing a proactive approach to addressing problems before they escalate.

“It’s not about money,” Wahls told the supervisors. “It’s about safety. It’s about security. It’s about being proactive.”

  Buy Photo

While Wahls stated that having a school resource officer doesn’t guarantee safety or security, it does shorten response time and improve New London Schools. Wahls also noted that students respond positively when they see a sheriff vehicle parked out front and “when it’s not, we have more problems.”

Wahls also expressed that the training for staff and students is more training they’ve ever received, and they look forward to continuing to expand that training in the future.

For similar reasons, Gill wants a school resource officer in the Winfield-Mt. Union building.

“I see families and their kids in their best and worst times,” Gill said. “Even in Winfield-Mt. Union, there’s been some kind of scary events that we’ve had to investigate and try to put proactive measures in place to try to do what we can to educate these kids but also to keep them safe.”

  Buy Photo

Seeing Lopez as New London’s school resource officer, Gill says he is impressed with how he constantly communicated with families, deals with truancy, and teachers staff and students.

“If in our worse moments we’re ready for the worst, but also those worst moments become less and less because we have that positive resource, that’s really what I want for Winfield-Mt. Union,” Gill said.

According to Wahls, the NLCSD Board already agreed to moving Deputy Lopez’s position to full-time despite knowing it would cost approximate $50,000 more than they currently pay for his part-time position.

Wahls told the supervisors that NLCSD did not have any additional funding for that but were willing to pay the cost. Along with that, Wahls addressed the potential legislation that Lindeen mentioned.

“You know, you sir, talked about a grant in that bill,” Wahls said. “What would happen is, if you are over 8,000 students, then you would be required to have an SRO. If you’re under you could apply for a grant, but that doesn’t mean you’d get it.”

According to McNamee, between the two contracts that the sheriff’s office would sign with Winfield-Mt. Union and New London, the reimbursement of deputy wages would more than cover the cost of adding a deputy. Although, the county would likely have to front the $10,000 cost of sending a new deputy through the academy.

Wahls encouraged the supervisors to allow for the additional deputy regardless of the possible legislation because his district already approved paying for the position regardless of legislation outcome.

“I would just ask that you would really consider what Rich is asking, that you provide another deputy to backfill what I’m looking for,” Wahls said.

With representatives from both Winfield-Mt. Union and New London both present, White took the opportunity to ask if they had reached out to their local police departments and city councils about partnerships.

According to Wahls, at the beginning of NLCSD’s journey to adding a school resource officer, they initially spoke with New London Police Department and city council.

Wahls informed White that New London Police Department was not in a position to provide an SRO with any regularity due to a continued shortage of officers already.

“What they said they could provide us is just drop in checks,” Wahls said. “You know, they’d come in and walk through the halls for 10 minutes or something. … In order to provide us with full days or half days they would have to make a change to what they are providing the city at that point.”

Gill also stated that he spoke with Winfield City Council and Winfield Police Department as they began to explore adding a school resource officer, but with Winfield Police Department consisting of all part time officers and the current chief planning to retire next year, it was not something the city expressed they could manage to support.

Additionally, Gill stated that he reached out to over 30 schools with resource officers to understand how they handled the situation and only found one school that was supplied through their city police force: West Branch.

“We found their budget for law enforcement in their city is not what ours is,” Gill said. “There’s a reason why there’s only one from their city, but that’s why we are where we are. Because this really is our only option to get this done. I’ve looked through the other options, and I’m not asking for a handout. I’ve done plenty of research.”

In addition to comments from school representatives, a handful of citizens present also spoke up in favor of adding a deputy to the sheriff’s office to fill the need for school resource officers in the county.

“If the school districts are paying us to do that, why would we not keep our kids safe?” Henry County Resident Mary Graber asked the supervisors. “And I realize there is future costs in that, but man, our kids are pretty dang important. And I don’t think it’s a matter of but when something here can happen. I think we need to look at it that way.”

As supervisors questioned how to make the finances work in light of house file 718 levy restrictions and how expenses and revenue are processed, White stated they would need to come up with creative solutions.

“If a problem exists, there’s an answer somewhere,” White stated.

Supervisor Greg Moeller tried to explain to Graber that House File 718 puts a cap on the county’s ability to levy property taxes which would pay for the position. According to Moeller, in order to find the money, they have to make cuts.

“That’s where we’re at,” Moeller said. “where do those cuts come?”

“As a taxpayer, I rather see a clerk’s job cut than a public safety officer,” Graber said. “I’m not one of you. I don’t have to do that.”

With that, Moeller told Graber “Remember, that’s what you’re asking right now. What’s being asked of us: to cut somebody else to hire somebody in the future.”

“That was my proposal in January,” McNamee interjected. “I cut two clerks and a jailer.”

McNamee did clarify that while his budget allotted for the salaries of those positions, they were vacant at the time he cut them.

Despite the supervisors still expressing concerns about moving prematurely in light of legislation and reservations about how the financials will work out, the Henry County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved McNamee’s request to add an additional deputy to his force so both New London and Winfield-Mt. Union’s school resource officer needs will be filled.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com