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Show Davis County officials decide Constables to be from other sources By JUDY JENSEN Asst Managing Editor FARMDVGTON Constables in Davis County won't be selected from the sheriffs department, although Sheriff Glenn Clary said he had hoped to save jobs by using his employees in that capacity. A five-member committee, that included the sheriff, voted to seek the constables from outside the sheriffs department. The committee agreed that, although the sheriff is willing to provide the service, it is more efficient to appoint constables who do not have other duties that must take priority over paper serving. "I was in hopes of saving four or five jobs by picking up this additional paper stream, which would generate about $150,000 each year, but we've already made staff reductions and we couldn't handle the paper work," Clary said. "We're down to bare bones. We're already handling more than 250 papers each week. We couldn't do the whole county, he said. Clary explained the commission had mandated man-dated that the sheriff's staff must be cut by 15 employees, a move designed to save the county about $530,000 annually. 4 'We've already lost one full-time and seven part-time employees,' said Clary. The sheriffs department generally handles arrest warrants, subpoenas, summons and other papers "which usually do not carry fees,' said Clary. Constables most often serve papers generated ge-nerated by the civil courts including the most lucrative, execution orders, where property is confiscated or repossessed. The sheriff said serving ser-ving an execution order will sometimes pay well over $100. One of the recommendations of the committee com-mittee to the commissioners was that they agree to allocate enough funds to the sheriff s department depart-ment to eliminate the need for further staff reductions. "We're hurting bad in dispatch. It takes 14 people to man it and we're down to 10, said Clary. He said if the commissioners do not agree to provide sufficient funding, he will have "no choice but to eliminate four additional sheriffs deputies. That would severely limit the sheriff's department in serving court papers. The need to appoint new constables arose from action by the 1990 legislature which eliminated elim-inated the elected position of constable. Until Jan. 7, there were three elected constables serving serv-ing Davis County. Now the majority of their work has been absorbed by the sheriffs department depart-ment or left undone. The legislature mandated that the position of constable be an appointment made by the county commission. Working on that information, the county commission selected a committee to review the need for a constable and to accept applications for the position. The committee, including Judge Alfred Van Wagenen, Betty Brand, Sheriff Clary, Commissioner Commis-sioner J. Dell Holbrook and Davis County Attorney At-torney Melvin Wilson, met last week and determined deter-mined that, based on county population growth and increased civil and criminal case loads, there is a need for two full-time county constables. Although the constables will be appointed by the commission, they will not be county employees. The constables will maintain their own office and be empowered to appoint deputies. County constables will be certified peace officers and will wear uniforms and carry documents identifying them as constables. Constables must carry an indemnification bond indemnifying the county for negligent acts or omissions of the constable or deputies while on duty. Applications for the position of Davis County Constable will be taken by the commission through the end of February. The committee will review the applications, and appointments are expected to be made in March. |