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TRANSCRIPT
Kim Szecsi:
We have a special guest in the house it’s his visit. He comes once a month. It is Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery. Always good to see you, sir. How are you?
Sheriff Montgomery:
Oh, how could you not be great on a morning like today? Is it not absolutely gorgeous? Sun is shining and we’re in God’s country. What more could you ask for?
Szecsi:
Absolutely. God fearing people in this county and, and God bless them. We, we love living here. I mean, people ask me all the time, why’d you move from Colorado? Why wouldn’t you? Okay, that’s my question back. We’ve got great tax rates, we’ve got terrific schools, we’ve got absolutely outstanding law enforcement, and we absolutely salute our servicemen, and all our first responders, and thank you, every day, for doing what you do.
Notice you got a couple great donations for those vests that save lives for you guys.
Montgomery:
Well, we have the bulletproof vest. We are, of course, you know, there’s, there’s a, when I say there’s an expiration date it is, it’s, they, they do have for five years. And so it’s not to say that five years in one day, they’re no good anymore, but they, they’re recommended to be replaced every five years.
Well, when you look at the number of deputies that we have, that’s a lot. And when you replace them over five years, so it’s, it’s a struggle. And so we’ve had two individuals that’s or, or families, I should say that stepped up and one donated to two vests for us. And then when that word got out, another family come in and donated three more vests.
And we’ve had a couple other donations come in to go towards Vest. They couldn’t afford a thousand dollars for Vest, but they wanted to help. And so it is just so awesome. This community has stepped up.
Szecsi:
And every little amount helps by the way. And that goes through the Sheriff’s foundation.
Is that not correct?
Montgomery:
That’s correct. It goes through the Sheriff’s foundation. And so what happens to the Sheriff’s foundation, which is a nonprofit 501 C 3 that’s used to support the Sheriff’s office. So they purchased the Vest and donate them back to the community. Sheriff’s office. And so the property becomes that of the sheriff’s office, but it’s a huge help.
In fact, those vests are in order now. And so it takes a little bit for them to get in because they’re, they’re sized to fit the deputy that they go on. So,
Szecsi:
well, it’s fall, as we all know, you know, school has started back up. We’ve been harping on people to, you know, be careful around those school zones.
We’ve got Halloween coming up, we’ve got Arktoberfest. We’ve got kiddos out and about a lot more than just school hours.
Montgomery:
Yeah, exactly. And you know, Halloween will be here before I get come back. Unless you just ask me back, of course.
Szecsi:
Well, we might just have to just do that.
Montgomery:
But again, Halloween just to briefly touch on that, cause we do it every year and we’ll put out some safety tips. You know don’t put your kids in costumes that’s going to cause them to trip or fall, have reflective tape on them, have them have a flashlight, some things like that, that’s a big help. And of course, obviously if you’re driving, be extremely cautious because you know, kids are kids and they’re all excited, they’re hyped up and they dart in and out of traffic and that, and so… but even be… Prior to, like you said, the Arktoberfest, all of the stuff that goes on there’s just a lot of activities going on. And so just be really cautious. And if you’re an adult and you’re going out to to have fun, just remember to plan ahead, get a designated driver because it’s very costly. Of course, obviously if you have an accident or hurt or kill someone, that’s the ultimate cost. But if you get caught drinking and driving you know, the cost is extremely high and so it’s just not worth it. Plan ahead.
Szecsi:
It can affect you the rest of your life because that follows you.
Montgomery:
Absolutely.
Szecsi:
It follows you on your record. And there are a lot of places that will not hire you with that on your record.
Montgomery:
Just plan ahead. I mean designated driver and you know, and I’ll tell you, you’ve got teenage kids and I’m talking high school, you know, 16, 17, 18 use them to drive your friends around and pick you up, take you and pick you up.
Szecsi:
We did that for New Year’s Eve for many, many years with our kids.
Montgomery:
And you know, tip them. So the kid, you know…
Szecsi:
My son made really good money one New Year’s Eve, carting people back and forth from a party. And I mean really good money, because I’m more than willing to give you 50 bucks rather than pay that thousand dollar fine, plus the new insurance, plus all that stuff.
Montgomery:
Exactly.
Szecsi:
It’s just, it’s not worth it. It’s really not worth it.
Hey, we had a pretty good summer on the lakes too. We didn’t have as many accidents as the year before. That’s always good. So let’s make this fall reflective of that. Absolutely. That would, that would help you guys out a lot. So what’s on the horizon for the Sheriff’s Department?
What what’s new? What’s happening with you guys?
Montgomery:
Well, it’s budget season and so all of the elected officials are working on our budgets and so the sheriff’s office we have two main budgets, which is the sheriff’s office and the jail, and then there’s a lot of other smaller budgets… Boating safety and D.A.R.E and some things like that.
So I think we have, I don’t know, 12 or 13 budgets that we’re responsible for. And so we’re going through and looking. Every year you look and see expenses. And sometimes these are one time expenses. And so you have to take that into account not to increase your budget next year, just because you had a one time expense.
Now the jail is a prime example. We call it the new jail, which it’s not the new jail, because it’s 20 years old this year. And so it seems like we’ve had several repairs. It’s come up this year, but those are again, like replacing the roof and some things like that are one time expenses.
And so we have to look at that and figure that out. And so we’ll submit our budget request. I think it’s the 10th of October. I believe it is a Thursday is when the budget committee will meet to review those budget requests. I don’t know if they’ll finalize it that evening, but that’s when they’ll get their first look at all of the elected officials request.
And so as far as we’re concerned, there’s really nothing earth shattering. I mean, we’re just about the same year to year. You know, we’re going to probably ask for three cars again. Years ago when money was so tight our cars had 300,000 miles on it.
And so now we’ve finally… I want to hats off real quick to former quorum court member, Gary Smith, who made it a point… this is embarrassing. We’re going to get our fleet up to date. And so he worked very hard. And so now we replace three to four cars every year. And that keeps us in good shape.
My, my plan right now is to ask for three cars again this coming year and again, as long as we do that, we’re replacing the oldest one, we don’t get into that mess we had before.
Szecsi:
Exactly. I remember that mess. There were cars just sitting.
Montgomery:
Well, a picture went viral when we had two sheriff’s deputies cars being towed on the same tow truck.
Szecsi:
Oh, that’s nice. That’s a good picture.
Montgomery:
Both of them were responding to a call and broke down.
Szecsi:
And that’s the last thing we need, right? Because we know that you guys respond, and you respond well. And we thank you, again, for everything you do, keeping us safe in the community. Anything else you want to add before we wrap up?
Montgomery:
Well, I just want to again thank this community. This is an awesome place to live, it’s an awesome place to work, and you know I just so grateful and thankful and blessed to be part of this community.
Szecsi:
Awesome. Are you going to be out at the political forum Monday night?
Montgomery:
I don’t think so. Well, I’ve got a conflict and I would actually would love to be at the political forum and of course you’ve got quorum court members and city council. That’s yes. Well, I don’t guess you should call it a debate…
Szecsi:
It is sort of… I’d call it a discussion.
Montgomery:
Yeah, a discussion.
And I really would like to be there. I’m trying to figure out a way to get there,
Szecsi:
To be two places at once, John? I’ve tried that. You can’t do it.
Montgomery:
But again, the thing of it is… I know in this case, I know all of the candidates on a personal basis.
And so we, you know… Again, my only input would be just make sure that you’re going to do what’s best for this community.
Szecsi:
Yeah. And that’s a good sentiment. What about health fair? Are we going to see you drop by the health fair?
Montgomery:
You should see me drop by the health fair. Yes.
Szecsi:
Excellent. I look forward to seeing you next week then.
All right. John Montgomery, Sheriff of Baxter County. Thank you so much for your time.
Montgomery:
Absolutely.
Szecsi:
It’s very valuable. And we thank him for everything he does. Give our love to everybody at the department.
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