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Ohio County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Drage Flick is set to retire from law enforcement, but the department doesn't want to give up his administrative and training abilities.
This week Sheriff Tom Howard asked county commissioners to create a civilian administrator's position within his office, then permit Flick to transition into the new job where he would have no arrest powers.
The move has the full support of the Ohio County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Howard told commissioners
"He (Flick) is going to retire, and we would like to keep him as a civilian administrator," he said. "It would be very beneficial to the sheriff's department."
Flick has seen 31 years in law enforcement, and is the commander of the department's special response team. In addition, he serves as its shooting range instructor, Howard continued. Recent years, however, have seen him more behind a desk taking on such tasks as payroll.
"(Flick) is an administrator now," Howard added. "He would be doing almost 100% of the same duties. But he wouldn't have law enforcement powers."
Flick would still be certified to train deputies in firearms and law enforcement work, according to Howard.
"Losing all of that would just be a big hit to the sheriff's department right now," he said.
Howard suggested the civilian administrator's job could be a temporary one, extending only through the end of 2024 when Howard's second and final term as sheriff is complete. The next sheriff may want to handle the position in a different way, Howard added.
The department has a second chief deputy in John Schultz, who has a different set of duties than Flick does.
Flick was present at the meeting, and indicated he sees a need for him to stay on at least in the short term. He estimated that just 10% of his current work involves law enforcement, and this typically happens only when the special response team is called into action.
"Other than that, I'm in that office," he said. "Payroll, maintaining our scheduling systems ... everything that comes into that office, I have done."
The department has been losing employees, and expects to lose more in the coming months, Flick continued. He has been attempting to train people in the administrative tasks and doing the jobs he does, but often he and these employees don't have the time for the training among their daily tasks.
"We just haven't had the consistent personnel and the people to do this being out on the road and doing what they have to do, so there hasn't been anyone to do special projects," Flick told commissioners. "It's always just fallen to me, and I've always accepted that responsibility. I am the last guy standing who can do most of this stuff."
Commission President Randy Wharton acknowledged the department has had "some significant retirements this year."
"In my opinion, this makes some sense," he said. "We should try and work this out to the best of everybody."