Carver County sheriff's race heats up

Staff turnover, budget concerns and monitoring registered predatory offenders have emerged as major issues in this year's election for Carver County sheriff, where incumbent Jim Olson is facing an aggressive challenge from Derek Lee.

Lee, 55, a former sergeant in the department and currently police chief in Olivia, Minn., is hoping that the third time will be the charm. He lost to Olson in a wide-open race in 2010 and unsuccessfully ran against Olson's predecessor in 2002.

Olson, 55, is a 27-year veteran with the Sheriff's Office. He notes that since he became sheriff, crime in Carver County has declined 11 percent. Other accomplishments, he said, include implementing a drug take-back program that has safely destroyed more than 2,500 pounds of prescription drugs and integrating emergency management services operations into the Sheriff's Office.

Lee said Olson shouldn't take credit for the drug take-back initiative since it is part of a larger federal program. He also said he's concerned about high employee turnover and a large number of vacant positions.

"Stabilizing the workforce is critical," he said.

Lee noted that the department paid more than $1 million in overtime last year and is on track to pay about $1.2 million this year. He thinks a large number of squad car crashes — 14 so far this year — could be due to deputies working long hours.

The county's 2014 budget lists 14 vacant positions for the department's 159-person staff. Olson said that number is still fairly accurate, with some jobs getting filled and others opening up. The department's average attrition rate for the past four years has been 9.5 percent, compared with 8.1 percent for the total county workforce. Last year, the attrition rate for the Sheriff's Office was just over 8 percent, he said.

Olson said most crashes have been due to a changeover in squad car models. "We wish that [Ford]Crown Victorias were still being made, but they're not," Olson said. Deputies are adjusting to replacements — Ford Taurus and Explorer models — which have different sight lines and are built lower to the ground. Most incidents have been minor — like cars bottoming out or backing into light posts, he said.

Lee said he also is concerned about a 2013 survey of Sheriff's Office employees where almost 85 percent of the respondents said they had considered leaving in the past two years. More than half cited a lack of recognition, and about 45 percent faulted the quality of management.

The survey isn't done every year but was conducted, Olson said, "to see where we were at." He noted that the most common reason employees said they had considered leaving was compensation, which isn't negotiated by his office but by the county and unions.

Lee said the Sheriff's Office should be more proactive about monitoring registered predatory offenders, including those convicted of sexual crimes. There currently are about 80 living in Carver County.

"It is very concerning to me that we have these individuals and that they are not being checked on. We don't know if they have bought a car, sold a car, changed their hairstyle, have a new job, moved," Lee said. He said there were no visits to offenders' homes in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and only one this year.

Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723