Nowata County sheriff to retire after short stint

Nowata County’s sheriff plans to retire effective Feb. 1, just 10 months after she was appointed in an interim capacity to guide an agency in disarray.

Sheriff Sandy Hadley told the Tulsa World that her primary reason for stepping away is to be with her family more — in particular her 19-monthold granddaughter — which is difficult to do while performing a stressful, time-intensive job.

She said her other top concern is insufficient funding, which creates a manpower void and jail liability problems.

Hadley, 52, said the financial footing of the sheriff’s office is now “stable” through the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

On less solid ground is the staffing level, however, which she described as a “skeleton crew” of 14½ full-time equivalent employees when typical 24/7 operations require a total in the low 20s. Hadley said that often leads to her running out to calls at all hours, serving papers, transporting inmates or sitting in as a detention officer, sometimes going “two or three days” without much sleep.

She also said she has served as the office’s lead fundraiser, gaining myriad donations to help it stay afloat financially and to upgrade outdated equipment.

“I’m just looking forward to living life,” Hadley said. “There’s so much support in Nowata County and I don’t want to let them down, and I hope I’m not letting them down, but my family finally deserves to have me.”

Hadley referred to the office’s staffing shortage as a “huge liability” because state statute requires one jailer per 20 inmates. The Nowata County jail averages about 30 inmates, meaning two jailers should be stationed there at all times.

But that isn’t possible, she said, and she has had to pick up the second spot herself numerous times.

“Being responsible for that is always on your mind,” Hadley said.

In a 2-1 vote on April 5, the Nowata County Commissioners appointed Hadley as interim sheriff until a special election could be held in November 2018. Previously, she intended to campaign for the special election to take the final two years of the vacated term.

Budget problems at the sheriff’s office were compounded by the abrupt resignations of Sheriff Rick Miller, Undersheriff Billy Scott and Jail Administrator Michael Scott within a two-week time period in late February and early March.

Miller and the Scott brothers were the latest in a wave of employee exits from the agency amid the substantial financial struggles, according to records previously reported by the Tulsa World.

The county clerk told commissioners on March 13 that she was unable to determine the depth of the financial pit at the sheriff’s office because the office didn’t use “proper accounting procedures.”

The sudden loss in March of a lucrative state contract to house overflow prisoners in the Nowata County jail also packed a wallop. Nowata County relied heavily on those $400,000 to $500,000 in contract funds with a yearly general fund balance of about $950,000 to appropriate to all of its offices.

Nowata County Commission Board Chairman Bud Frost on Monday said commissioners will have to discuss during their regular meeting next week whether to appoint an interim sheriff or if the undersheriff will fill the role until the special election.

“It’s a helluva job, especially up here,” Frost said in reference to the sheriff’s workload. “As far as I’m concerned she’s done her job fine.”

Hadley said she is proud of all of her accomplishments and harbors no regrets about her stint as sheriff.

“It’s finally stable,” Hadley said of the sheriff’s office. “I’m not leaving on it being crazy. I’m leaving on it being stable.

“When I first took office there were so many issues and problems.”

Some of the financial troubles she inherited and her fixes for them are laid out in the state’s operational audit of the Nowata County government for fiscal year 2016, which was released Tuesday.

The Oklahoma State Auditor & Inspector’s Office found inadequacies in how the sheriff’s office had handled the monetary disbursement process, payroll and Inmate Trust Fund checking account and annual jail commissary report. Hadley’s responses in the audit say that she has corrected non-compliance matters, implemented better internal controls and separation of duties, and bolstered documentation.

Hadley, who said she’s spent three decades in criminal justice, said she is offering to volunteer for the sheriff’s office as time allows, in whatever capacity is needed. She said she wants to ensure Nowata County is safe and knows she can help ease personnel issues by donating some of her time.

And donations have helped carry the sheriff’s office through recent rough times.

Hadley credited the Cherokee Nation with donating “quite a bit of money” the past year to stabilize the budget.

The Bartlesville Police Department and Washington County sheriff’s office donated a handful of used patrol cars for her agency to upgrade from broken-down vehicles, Hadley said. The South Coffeyville Police Department also donated several items, including bodyworn cameras, Breathalyzers and patrol car light bars.

A “mini riot” in Nowata County’s jail led to about $20,000 in damage, including damaged walls and destroyed porcelain sinks and toilets, Hadley said. A Crime Stoppers official is voluntarily installing security cameras in the facility. The Rogers County sheriff’s office and the state’s Northeast Oklahoma Correctional Center donated steel sink/toilet combinations and steel cages to cover pipes to make it more difficult for inmates to cause destruction.

“I’m honored, just very honored to have done this,” Hadley said of being sheriff.

“This kind of topped my career.”