Sheriff Calls Critics ‘Vocal Minority’ Promotes ‘Working Together’

(Juneau) Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt is refuting criticism of his leadership. Three county board supervisors appeared on WBEV’s Community Comment last week to refute for themselves claims made by the sheriff against them on previous programs. Supervisors David Gukenberger, Kira Sheahan-Malloy and Cathy Houchin offered their side of the story on budget reductions, budget shortfalls and its impact on staffing, placing the blame squarely on the sheriff.

On Wednesday, Schmidt called the group a “vocal minority” and says as an elected official he answers to the people, not the county board.  He says there are challenges and he never claimed to be perfect but that is what he is trying to do. However, as long as there is a vocal minority attacking everything that the department does, it does nothing but degrade the morale of staff. At the same time, he says by supporting “false claims,” it drives a wedge between staff and administration and that needs to stop.

Schmidt says he is going to continue to operate the sheriff’s office as he sees fit to do the work of the people and keep the people safe. He says while there are concerns and challenges that need to be worked on, he does not know an organization that does not have concerns and areas that need improvement. An unidentified caller to the program yesterday, who is not a county board supervisor, disagreed with the sheriff’s take. “Stop trying to pretend it’s a vocal minority Dale,” the caller stated. Schmidt says there needs to be more working together rather than constant negativity.

 

Sheriff Dale Schmidt on WBEV’s Community Comment:

 

 

Dodge County Board Supervisor’s Cathy Houchin, Kira Sheahan-Malloy and David Gukenberger: