Sheriff pursues re-election bid
Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan is ramping up his campaign, preparing to go “full bore” in the coming months with his bid for re-election.
Even though the filing deadline is three weeks away and more candidates for the sheriff’s position may come forward, Meehan, a Republican, is assured a contest in the June primary election against Republican challenger Chuck Curry.
“I look forward to serving the public and protecting their property for another four years if I’m fortunate enough to be re-elected,” Meehan said last week.
Meehan, 53, was undersheriff and had 19 years of law enforcement experience when he was elected by a wide margin in 2006.
It’s been a busy four years, but there’s been enough time to get a lot of his to-do list done.
“I feel I’ve almost accomplished everything I set out to do,” Meehan said.
A year after he was elected, Meehan and the county treasurer developed a plan to post properties with unpaid taxes, a move that yielded thousands of dollars in back-tax collections for the county.
“Getting that big orange sticker on their door” motivated many delinquent taxpayers in getting square with the county, he said.
Another effective program began last year when the Sheriff’s Office began putting misdemeanor and felony outstanding warrants on the county Web site. In the first week alone the county cleared 60 misdemeanor and 10 felony warrants, he said.
Meehan has had a leadership role in the new 911 dispatch center that becomes operational next month. He served on the advisory committee and now sits on the administrative board for the new center.
He’s also been involved with his department’s conversion to a new communications network that aims to link law-enforcement and government agencies across Northern Montana.
In addition to giving agencies the ability to communicate across the state’s northern border region, the Northern Tier Interoperability Consortium also expects to improve homeland security by providing the means for military and civil authorities to communicate by radio. Flathead County has received more than $4 million in grants for radio equipment and a microwave tower, Meehan said.
Another accomplishment he cited was the creation of a major crime-scene unit in 2007 that uses specialized officers in some cases. Most recently the unit provided expertise in the case of Justin Calbick, who is accused of shooting his father and brother to death.
Meehan has undertaken several changes in an effort to make the department and its operations more efficient and save the county money.
A year ago a second nurse was hired for the county jail, which has reduced the number of costly emergency-room visits for prisoners. Meehan staggered the nurses’ schedules to include on-call work on weekends and evenings.
“I can honestly say they’ve paid for themselves” by providing expanded medical assistance, he said.
Another efficiency move was putting the county animal wardens under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Office, he said. Revamping schedules eliminated overtime and pager pay and has allowed the wardens to help the department by serving civil papers when necessary.
Meehan changed the patrol schedule and realigned training days for the deputies, which also has saved a considerable amount of money, he said.
Other accomplishments have focused on children — the creation of an accredited children’s advocacy center two years ago and a stepped-up effort to prosecute pornography cases involving children.
Meehan said he can’t take all the credit for his department’s success during his first term.
“We have fantastic deputies who truly care,” he said, crediting his officers and administrative staff.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com