Sheriff seeks re-election

By Derek Smith
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 4:18 AM CST
LA PORTE — With filing open today for state and La Porte County elected offices, incumbent La Porte County Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer took the opportunity Tuesday to officially announce his candidacy for re-election.

Mollenhauer will run against Sheriff’s Department Capt. Dick Buell in the Democratic primary May 4.

In an interview Tuesday, Mollenhauer highlighted some of the improvements implemented in the Sheriff’s Department since he took office in January 2007.

No. 1 on the list was overcrowding in the county jail. The jail had 80 unused beds after its renovation in 2004 because there weren’t enough officers to police the beds.

“We were running at capacity and sometimes over capacity,” Mollenhauer said.

He and jail commander Scott Bell worked with Indiana State Prison to conduct a jail analysis, which was presented to county officials. The county allowed Mollenhauer to hire the necessary staff to open up the 80 beds, increasing the total usable beds in the facility to 368, he said.

“It was imperative that we got that jail open so we had the space,” Mollenhauer said, adding the improvement has minimized the risk of lawsuits associated with overcrowding and the need to “farm” inmates outs to other facilities.

Mollenhauer said he is exploring a “book and release” program for first-time minor offenders as well to help with overcrowding.

During his term, Mollenhauer said he also added an additional sheriff’s deputy to the La Porte County Drug Task Force Unit, created the Sheriffs Telling Our Parents Promoting Educated Drivers program and assigned an unmarked patrol car to a uniform officer on each shift to make patrols more effective.

“I know there are times when we can use an unmarked car on the shift for surveillance,” the sheriff said.

Although Capt. Buell, Mollenhauer’s opponent in the upcoming primary, has criticized the sheriff for his alleged lack of communication with the public, Mollenhauer said he has continued to reach out to the community during his term by placing a sheriff’s deputy as school resource officer in La Porte Community School Corp., establishing a “citizens academy” for participants to learn more about county government and the sheriff’s department, and continuing the tradition of periodic community meetings in different areas throughout the county.

“If citizens have ideas, or complaints, or just want to meet some officers, (the meetings are) there to hear their concerns,” Mollenhauer said.

To take community relations one step further, Mollenhauer plans to launch a Community Information Service. When the program gets off the ground, Mollenhauer said citizens can view public-safety alerts and information about crime in their specific part of the county on the department’s Web site.

Mollenhauer defends wife’s work as matron

By Bridget Flynn
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, February 12, 2010 4:17 AM CST
LA PORTE — After Dick Buell announced Tuesday he will not appoint his wife, Dava, jail matron if elected sheriff, current Sheriff Michael Mollenhauer defended the work of his wife, Sue, in that position.

“She knows how to manage people,” Mollenhauer said of his wife. “She’s done a spectacular job.”

Mollenhauer said Sue has saved the county money by calling food suppliers to get the best prices on foods. He said that when Sue first assumed the position of matron, the average price of each meal was $1.19. By the middle of 2009, Sue had gotten the price of each meal down to $1.03 per meal and, due to widespread price increases since, the cost of each meal served at the jail is now $1.07, he said.

“I’m pretty proud of her,” he said.

“She always makes sure she keeps the meals nutritional,” he said, noting that a dietician evaluates the meals twice each year. That prevents high health costs for the county, he said.

The nutritional meals also keep inmates “satisfied” and thereby “keep (behavioral) problems down,” he said.

Mollenhauer also said Sue purchases foods that come from La Porte County only.

“Financial responsibility is one of our priorities,” he said.

Buell said that by not appointing his wife, who is currently a branch manager at Horizon Bank in La Porte, he will be giving an opportunity to somebody in the county who may not have a job.

Mollenhauer countered, “If she (Dava Buell) did take it (the jail matron position), it would open up a slot where she works.” He noted that when his wife, Sue took the position of jail matron, she left open a position as secretary with the La Porte Community School Corp. at Boston Middle School.

“She loves her job,” Mollenhauer said of his wife. “I think it takes somebody who loves their work to be good at it.”

“It’s his prerogative,” Mollenhauer said of Buell’s plan not to appoint his wife to the position if elected.

Buell also said that if elected he would not accept a pay raise in his first term, as county employees have not seen a raise in the last three years.

Mollenhauer said in 2009 that he willingly declined as part of his salary a percentage of tax money brought to the county through warrants from people who neglected to pay taxes. He said 10 percent of tax warrant money usually went to the sheriff’s salary and has usually amounted to $25,000 to $30,000.

Mollenhauer conceded that he did accept a raise in 2009 to bring his salary from 90 percent of the county prosecutor’s salary to 100 percent of the prosecutor’s salary. The salary he gets is $125,000 a year. Effective January 2011, state law will mandate that all sheriffs will receive the same salary as their county’s prosecutors.

Mollenhauer also said he accepts an annual clothing allowance of $1,500.

“Every time there’s an election, jail matron and clothing allowance is brought up,” Mollenhauer said.

He added that 2009 saw a decrease in crime in the county. He complimented the work of the La Porte County Metro Drug Task Force, calling it a “terrific unit.” He noted that La Porte Police officers and county sheriff’s deputies have worked together in the unit on busts regarding methamphetamine.