The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Five-member panel to help decide future of county law enforcement
Valentine: Neither Mexico Farms nor Furnace Street locations are sufficient

By The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
CUMBERLAND, Dec. 30 -- Three of the five members of a panel selected by Allegany County Sheriff Craig Robertson to help him determine the best way to reunite the sheriff's office with the Bureau of Police have extensive law enforcement backgrounds.

Ray Pressley is a retired Maryland State Police major; John Morley, a retired captain of the Cumberland Police Department; and Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore make up three-fifths of the advisory panel.

Stu Czapski, president and executive director of the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce and local attorney George McKinley round out the five panelists, selected by Robertson himself.

Robertson made the announcement Thursday during the county commissioners' weekly public meeting. He acknowledged the difficulty of the committee's task - which will be to formulate a recommendation that will be reviewed by the sheriff. In a public meeting, Robertson will follow-up that panel's recommendation with one of his own to the county commissioners. The commissioners have final say in how the reunification occurs.

Robertson said that, during the 29 months of division between the Sheriff's Office and Bureau of Police that "many friendships have been tarnished" and that "loyalty and trust" have been questioned.

In addition, complex issues such as seniority and rank structure, as well as the establishment of a chain of command, remain.

"It will be difficult to formulate a plan that will be acceptable to all parties involved," Robertson said, but he hopes that the plan will be "fair to all."

Robertson said the committee will meet with representatives from the Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Police and AFSCME, "the" local bargaining unit, during a process that was given no clear timeline during the meeting. Afterward, Robertson and Commissioner Bill Valentine both said between eight and 12 months might be reasonable.

Robertson opened his presentation on Thursday with a brief recap of events between August 2008 and now. He reminded the commissioners that the actions approved by former commissioners Jim Stakem, Dale Lewis and Bob Hutcheson were "done overnight, without any input from the citizens of Allegany County."

Before then, the county benefited from a full-service sheriff's office since the mid-1970s, Robertson said. The transfer of the road patrol to the newly expanded Bureau of Police was "unjustly done."

Robertson said voters spoke loudly by voting him - fully supported by his predecessor, David Goad - and voting out all three incumbent commissioners.

But Bernie Miltenberger, a Frostburg resident, said Stakem, Lewis and Hutcheson might have fallen victim to a general anti-incumbent mood, as did six of eight other commissioners in Washington and Garrett counties.

"Not every one of them had the sheriff issue," Miltenberger said. "You think there's a mandate, but I don't actually think there's a mandate. That's not necessarily why you're sitting here today."

He suggested the ousting of the three commissioners was voters' way of setting term limits.

"Let's not make this more tainted," Miltenberger said of the process. "When I see two divisions ... they don't trust what the other side's doing. That's going down a slippery slope."

The Bureau of Police officers' act of seeking union representation now is an example that Bureau Chief J. Robert Dick is doing a good job. Now that his leadership is in limbo, Miltenberger reasoned, the bureau's officers want protection.

"The Bureau of Police didn't unionize (until now) because they're happy with Bobby Dick," he said.

Commission President Mike McKay told Miltenberger he had received an invitation to attend a conservative group's meeting on Jan. 16. McKay said he plans to attend in order to hear as much information as possible.