By MARK WAITE
PVT

Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said he will still be the manager of the construction of the new Pahrump jail, despite the Nye County Commission's Aug. 1 appointment of his assistant sheriff and Interim County Manager Rick Marshall.

"As a sheriff, I am responsible. I'm a custodian of that jail. I'm responsible for that jail," DeMeo said. "If I see the jail isn't built right, I have the right to go in there and have those things corrected because overall, that's the responsibility I have. I have to make sure that jail is safe for the community, that jail is safe for the deputies, that jail is safe for the inmates."

The sheriff said the appointment of Marshall to supervise the jail and the new communications project was still a victory for his department, in that both projects are moving forward.

"In some respect they were trying to pull the rug out from under me. You know what? They did. But I'm still standing. The two projects are still moving," DeMeo said. The sheriff said he's been working on both projects since he took office in January 2001.

Former Nye County Sheriff's Captain Gus Sullivan started work on the communications system that will connect the entire county by a microwave system but had to abandon it when he was elected Beatty justice of the peace.

DeMeo said the sheriff's department had never signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nevada Highway Patrol when it sought to piggyback onto a NHP communications project, which was later abandoned.

DeMeo said if the county commissioners didn't work on this new communications microwave system with the Southern Nevada Area Communications Council, it would cost an additional $6 million.

The appointment of Marshall to oversee those two projects marked the latest confrontation between DeMeo and a few Nye County commissioners.

The commission is responsible for overseeing the sheriff's budget. DeMeo said that's its only power over his office. He said there has been contentiousness between him and the commission since January 2001.

"That actually goes back to the beginning of the tenure of my office. I had county commissioners roaming around and asking questions: Why is the sheriff doing this and why is the sheriff doing that?"

DeMeo told them they should speak to him about their concerns.

The sheriff said he's held community forums and has an 800 toll-free telephone number for people to call as well as an e-mail address. DeMeo said that, unlike the commission, he doesn't have consultants to help him run his department.

But the purse strings contribute to some of the friction.

"I'm a captive of the general fund for various reasons," DeMeo said. "I don't get any money from traffic tickets; that goes into the state and the general fund."

But commissioners don't have the authority to assign personnel, DeMeo said. "This year I got 13 positions. Now that is in jeopardy, those new positions may be in jeopardy, because of the increase in salaries and benefits for the new contract.

"The two areas we had some disagreements in for the last couple of years was manpower allocations. We are short in Pahrump by about 20 deputies, but we had to work on that, and the other was the 911 system, to centralize 911 for various reasons. That did not go through."

Nye County District 2 Commissioner Joni Eastley, from Tonopah, whose vehicle sports a bumper sticker for one of DeMeo's political opponents, Wade A. Lieseke Jr., said she used to receive calls from Pahrump residents angry about lack of service.

"They're told this is the best service they can give because the commissioners won't give the sheriff any more money," Eastley said. "I don't think there was friction to begin with. I don't think there's a single person on the board who doesn't want the sheriff's office to be successful.

He continually complains that the Board of Commissioners doesn't give him the money to operate the department the way he believes it should operate."

Eastley said the county is like any household trying to balance a budget. "The sheriff's office currently consumes 50 percent of the general fund budget. That leaves 50 percent to fund every other county department that's funded out of the general fund."

Eastley said 10 graduates of the police academy were hired by the Nye County Sheriff's Office a couple of years ago, and all but one went to Pahrump.

Nye County Commissioner Patricia Cox, however, came to DeMeo's defense.

"The sheriff is supposed to oversee the detention facility. That's his department. When we take that away from him, we're micromanaging his department," Cox said. "I was totally against the detention facility being taken away from the sheriff."

Cox said commissioners were totally overstepping their lines of authority because of hidden political agendas.

Commissioner Candice Trummell, DeMeo's most vocal critic on the communications project, announced she had cast her early vote for Lieseke. Trummell grilled DeMeo about a one-year delay in getting a timetable for the project.

"The people voted Wade out for a reason," Cox responded.

Trummell was unavailable for comment.

Former Sheriff Lieseke said in the 12 years he held office, he was only voted down twice on any of his requests before the commission. Lieseke said he spoke to commissioners individually before approaching the board about an item at a meeting, to be sure he had the support of at least a three-commissioner majority.

DeMeo said county officials have to be mature about their positions. "It doesn't make any difference what person we prefer in that office. The fact of the matter is you have to work with the person in that office."

But he suggested the commissioners should "give me an honest rebuke without a hidden agenda."

The sheriff is elected countywide, unlike commissioners who are elected by voters from their districts, DeMeo said.