COQUILLE - The Coos County Board of Commissioners laid down the law Thursday on the Coos County sheriff by eliminating the second in command from his office.

The controversial action, which calls into question who has the statutory right to make changes within the office, prompted Sheriff Andy Jackson to threaten to sue the three county commissioners.

Jackson contends the board went beyond its authority, and encroached too far into his elected powers in reorganizing the structure of his office.

In past budget talks, the sheriff and commissioners have collaborated on eliminating vacant positions - but have never cut a filled position. While he believes the commissioners are within their right to set the number of positions within his department - he argued they cannot decide what positions will go and which will stay.

“They do control the purse,” Jackson said. “If they say finance 20 positions - then I have to make that work.”

The brouhaha erupted on Thursday at the end of the third and final budget work session between Jackson, his top administrators and Commissioners John Griffith, Nikki Whitty and Kevin Stufflebean.

Over the last week and a half, the board has been cutting county departments' budgets to allow for a $7 million shortfall due to Congress' failure to reauthorize a federal timber payments subsidy. Jackson was asked to slash $3 million to $3.5 million from his nearly $8 million annual budget.

The board and a reluctant Jackson finalized the budget on Thursday.

Along with the laying off of 39 of the sheriff's 117 employees, the plan includes the closure of half the jail and future release of dozens of prisoners into the community. Then the board took the unprecedented action of eliminating the position of undersheriff.

The move to cut the position came at the conclusion of an hour-long budget work session in the commissioners' courtroom. After crunching the dollar amounts presented to date by all departments receiving county general fund dollars, Whitty announced they were still $521,333 short of balancing the budget.

Although the Sheriff's Office presented a revised budget on Wednesday that totaled $3.59 million in reductions, on Thursday, the commissioners fine-tuned his proposed savings plan and subtracted out:

€ $568,000 in one-time savings that won't carry over from year to year;

€ $120,000 in part-time help at the jail that Whitty called “questionable;

€ $60,000 in vehicle purchases already deducted from the general fund in another line item;

€ and added back thousands of dollars because the county must operate an animal shelter.

“He was real close, but I couldn't count all of it,” Whitty said.

Stufflebean noted the commissioners' adjustment of the sheriff's plan brought the true savings closer to $2.4 million - still $600,000 shy of what was asked of him.

Faced with the need to come up with another $521,333 in cuts, Whitty made a proposal:

“I think due to the circumstances, the sheriff needs to ... run the Sheriff's Office, and maybe not have an undersheriff anymore.”

Coos County Jail Administrator Brad Cook said the elimination of the non-union undersheriff position, currently held by 22-year-veteran Capt. Dave McDaniel, would save the county $84,000 a year in salary and benefits. Whitty said the county also would eliminate another assistant district attorney, saving the county an additional $80,000 and could subtract out $387,000 in Public Employees Retirement System payouts that wouldn't be necessary due to the impending layoffs.

“So you want another $89,000 from me?” Jackson said.

He was corrected.

The commission wanted another $84,000 from him, Whitty said, and then explained the sacrifices the commissioners are making, including taking over the duties of the county's maintenance department, traveling without reimbursement of food and gas, and Whitty, herself, has taken charge of all Measure 37 claims, instead of hiring a paralegal.

“I feel like the elected officials need to step up,” she said.

“I think I more than pay for myself as an elected official,” Jackson said. “I put in just as many hours as the other elected officials - or more sometimes.”

Stufflebean pointed out the board of commissioners' office also is losing two support staff positions in the reductions. After a few more moments of trading arguments, Griffith asked the board if it wanted to take any action. Whitty made the motion to balance the budget by eliminating the position and making the other cuts discussed.

“Well, I would say that I'm not going to eliminate the undersheriff at this point,” Jackson said.

Griffith then called on Coos County Legal Counsel Jacki Haggerty who explained to Jackson that the commissioners have the power to cut positions within the Sheriff's Office.

Jackson replied that the board has the power to cut the number of positions but does not have the authority to dictate how his office will be structured.

“Any more discussion?” Griffith asked his fellow commissioners.

There was none.

The board unanimously voted to eliminate the undersheriff position.

A few moments passed and Jackson rejoined, “Just for the record, if you decide this is the case that you want to go with, I will be filing a civil tort as to the structure of the office of sheriff and what right I have to structure the office.”

“Who are you going to get to represent you?” Griffith asked.

“I'll have somebody and then I will ask for a refund from the board to pay for it.”

“OK” Griffith said. “Anything else?

Nobody made a peep and the meeting adjourned.

During an interview on Friday afternoon, McDaniel, 52, who, as an administrator, is not affiliated with the Sheriff's Office union, said he does not have a lot of options. Despite his 22 years of service, he can't simply move into one of the few remaining patrol deputy or corrections officer positions.

He got his start in law enforcement with the Myrtle Point Police Department in 1980, and said he had planned to retire at the age of 58.

He said he doesn't want to leave the Sheriff's Office, and that he harbors no ill-will toward the commissioners.

“I'm not angry with them,” he said. “They have tough choices to make.”

McDaniel is one of a few veteran administrators within the Sheriff's Office who are salaried, and also collect PERS payments. According to Oregon law, Sheriff's Offices - and a host of other public employees - in counties with fewer than 75,000 residents can quit their jobs, and be rehired. The law was passed as an incentive to veteran employees nearing retirement to remain on the job in counties where, often, few seasoned replacements are readily available. It also allows the public entity to stop making PERS payments for the employee.

“This is not county dollars, it is a retirement that was earned,” McDaniel said. “I could just walk away and get another job. But the thing is ... I have a lot to offer. I have an awful lot of experience and Andy wants to keep me on. It's a real asset to rural counties and departments with a small amount of resources.”

By the end of business on Friday no decision had been made on what would be McDaniel's last day with the county. Also, Jackson was toning down his rhetoric about a lawsuit.

“I'm trying to go through a healing process with the board,” he said. “Hopefully, none of this lawsuit stuff has to come about.”

He said he was looking into filing legal paperwork to get an order from a judge that would clarify the powers of his office.

“There needs to be a final decision on who runs the Sheriff's Office - whether it's the board or the sheriff,” he said. “You can't have a slave with two masters.”

Later, he added, “I would prefer working with the board of commissioners on this issue, rather than letting it get out of hand. I truly believe that we could reach a consensus.”

The whole matter would be dropped, he said, if the commissioners rescinded their vote to eliminate the undersheriff position.