By HOLLY GASKILL
Some Wells County Council members have taken issue with the Sheriff Department’s recent purchase of license plate recognition cameras — namely, that the cameras were purchased without their approval through the use of commissary funds.
Council member Brandon Harnish discussed the item to close an otherwise routine first meeting of 2024 by the council. He believed the decision had been an overstep of power by Sheriff Scott Holliday and should have been brought before the council.
According to Holliday, six cameras were bought to read the license plates of cars entering the county via major paths of travel, Ind. 1, Ind. 224 and Ind. 124. These cameras automatically run license plates through a database, alerting law enforcement when a stolen vehicle or a vehicle belonging to someone with a warrant for their arrest enters the county.
The purchase was recorded as $18,900 in Holliday’s report of commissary fund purchases, which he presented to the council at the beginning of their meeting. However, it was not brought up until the end of the meeting and after Holliday had left.
Harnish expressed his belief that a decision of this nature should have been made in public. “With something like this,” he said, referring to pizza bought for inmates. Which was also included in the report. “I get it. But on a major matter of security, liberty, privacy, those kinds of questions … (to) stick it in the commissary fund, I just have a fundamental disagreement with that process, respectfully.”
Council member Seth Whicker agreed, however, he noted that Holliday planned to have the council consider the annual subscription cost in next year’s budget should the equipment prove beneficial.
Holliday later told The News-Banner that he has previously purchased law enforcement equipment with the funds, like guns and tasers. He advised that the commissary fund allows the Sheriff’s Department to make purchases outside of its budget, and, as an elected official for the department, he retains the executive authority to approve those purchases.
Whicker concluded, “It’s nothing against the current sheriff … to understand more of how it’s all gonna operate and work, I think would be vital for us to get that chance a year from now.”
During his quarterly report, Holliday gave year-end totals for daily activities, which largely remained consistent with the previous year’s totals.
Holliday also provided numbers for the jail’s population — as of Tuesday, 71 inmates were in the Wells County Jail, 30 of which were pre-trial holds for the Circuit Court, 16 pre-trial holds for the Superior Court, 18 from the Department of Correction and four Level 6 felons.
Additionally, Holliday stated the jail’s final renovation work is still unfinished, which he discussed at several previous County Commissioner meetings. Auditor Lisa McCormick said she has been unable to contact the representative from Ameresco, the group in charge of the project, about attending the commissioners’ upcoming meeting.
holly@news-banner.com
