DeLand, FL - Tomorrow afternoon's Volusia County Council meeting will move the county one step closer to adopting the long-battled Amendment 10, which is still waiting on a court ruling from Tallahassee.
That step comes after a memorandum of agreement between the county and the Volusia Sheriff's Office is created, which leads to tomorrow's meeting.
"We're looking to make an agreement between the county council and us because there are certain things that we are going to share for starters," said Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
This means that the Sheriff's Office will still utilize some of the county's support services. That includes facilities management, fleet management, risk, legal and some information technology services. Additionally, the Sheriff's Office will establish its own finance team and a human resources team.
There is also a proposal that would have the county contract the Sheriff's Office to manage the central dispatch function for the county, which is similar to how the county's dispatch operates now. However, instead of it being a county operation, it would be Sheriff Chitwood and the Volusia Sheriff's Office who manages the county's dispatch.
Another challenge with transitioning is transferring ownership of the Sheriff's Office materials, which is owned by the county, to Chitwood's office. Unlike the other offices affected by Amendment 10, the Sheriff's Office has their entire armory and fleet to worry about on top of employees.
"It's not a cut-and-dry MOU much like the property appraiser and the clerk of courts," said Chitwood. "For us, it's more in-depth. The equipment has to be transferred over to the Sheriff's Office: boats, guns, helicopters, trailers, all of that stuff has to be transferred over."
It might seem like a lot to cover in the way of finances, but, contrary to what some were told, taxpayers won't float the bill for Amendment 10.
"Our community was led to believe by dishonest (officials) that this Amendment 10 transition was going to cost the taxpayers $10 million," commented Chitwood. "It's not going to cost anywhere near $10 million, it's not going to cost anywhere near $5 million, it's not even going to cost a million."
That's because, per Chitwood, most of everything that's being done by the Sheriff's Office is being done under its current budget.
