BELLE — Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman on Nov. 15 swore in sheriff-elect Mark Morgan as a deputy sheriff in hopes of assisting his replacement with a smooth department head transition.

Heitman, who has served as Maries County Sheriff for 16 years, said he will hand over a debt-free sheriff’s office equipped with top-of-the-line resources to Morgan when the time comes.

“The financial shape is good, the equipment is fantastic and the type of gear they have is great,” Heitman began. “Most of the car inventory we have is good. His first big struggle, in my opinion, is going to be staffing at first, but hopefully, we can get that rollin’ so it’s not so bad come January first.”

Since the results of the April elections at least eight staff members have left the sheriff’s office. Due to the short staffing, the jail has been outsourced to Osage County. Heitman said inviting Morgan on to begin interviewing and filling those staff positions is better for the department and will ensure a seamless transition in the coming months.

“We’re short on deputies and short on dispatchers,” Heitman said. “That’s something we’ve already talked about. We started advertising for the positions, we are going to let (Morgan) do the interviews. We are going to get these spots filled and hopefully, in the next month we can get our jail back open as soon as we get enough dispatch help.”

Morgan said he has people in mind for the positions.

“I’ve already talked to a few people,” he said. “They are comin’ in and doin’ some interviews. We’ve got some interest. It’s just a matter of gettin’ in, doin’ the interviews and gettin’ a few people started.”

Morgan, who has nine years of experience on various police forces, said there are a couple of potential employees who will be coming in for interviews.

Heitman said they are down eight or nine staff members in total.

Morgan had changes he wanted to make to the department that included staff when he campaigned. When asked if he would be making those changes, he said he wants to fill the open staff positions first.

“Absolutely,” he began “In reference to dispatch and the jail. Short-term, we’re just trying to get back to full staff. I obviously think we need to start housin’ our inmates. Further down the road I really wanna focusin’ on separatin’ our jail and our dispatch because it’s just too much for one person or even two people down there worryin’ about what’s goin’ on in the jail and dealin’ with all the problems that occur, especially when you have a full jail, and dispatch fire and EMS. If you’ve ever been down there when a bad call comes in that takes all of our resources, it’s absolute chaos.”

Heitman said that ideally separating the jail and dispatch is good, but it will be a while before the department can afford it.

“Ideally that’s what I would want to do too, but just getting money out of the commission will be his biggest hurdle,” Heitman said.

The Sheriff’s Office has succeeded in improving its financial situation in the last few years with grants. Heitman said some grants will still be active, but the new sheriff will need to reapply for them.

“I know the state is going to be releasing a bunch of ARPA money again soon and the county did very well with that,” Heitman said. “I don’t know when those deadlines are. I know they are coming available. As far as big grants for personnel, those are harder to get. ARPA and a lot of those grants are for equipment needs, radio needs. We’ve got some of the best radios out there. Highway safety, you can get some grants. For salaries and stuff, that usually over time. Deputies and staffing positions long term is hard to get with grants.”

Heitman said the department doesn’t currently have personnel grants or deputy supplement grants.

Morgan said second to staffing, they need to reopen the jail as soon as possible.

“We’re bleeding money by out-housing and we are still responsible for transportation back and forth to court and things of that nature — it’s a tax — a drain on the sheriff’s office,” Morgan said. “Right now we are lookin’ at the jail,” Morgan said. “We need to make some repairs, there’s some welding down there and needs some painting.”

The jail is currently sporting various layers of paint, including the current gray and the previous pink that was chosen by an elementary-aged Landry Heitman, the outgoing sheriff’s daughter.

“While we don’t have anybody in there, it seems like a good time to go ahead and make those improvements,” Morgan said. “At least paint and fix a few issues with a couple locks and maybe a plumbing issue somewhere. But we’re gonna try and get those things nailed down as soon as possible.”

While serving as deputy sheriff, Heitman said Morgan will have supervisory powers, hiring powers, and anything else that will assist in a smooth department head transition.

“We are gonna be workin’ toward tryin’ to get back up to full coverage, full staffing just to better serve the people of Maries County,” Morgan said.

“I think now with Mark coming on, there shouldn’t be any lack of coverage come January 1.The Sheriff’s Office should respond just the same as it did on December 31,” Heitman said.

Heitman said Morgan should be coming into office with a $1 million dollar department budget.

“When you think about that, that’s to run everything,” he said. “Keeping a deputy on the road with everything’s $90,000 a year.”

Heitman said his primary goal is to transition the department to his successor in better financial shape and with serviceable equipment, than he received it.

“When I started, the department was $300,000 in debt and every vehicle was junk. The debt included cars we didn’t even have anymore,” Heitman said. “There is no debt now and all the equipment and land is bought and paid for.”

He added that the main sheriff’s fund has $81,089.87 on hand, the sheriff’s discretionary fund used to improve the office of sheriff with non sales tax fund from court fees has $11,947.38 and the law enforcement restitution fund has a $108,853.82 balance.

A Sheriff’s Office sales tax is set to expire in 2025. Heitman warned Morgan he will need to have it on the ballot again in 2025 because it expires in September.

“The sales tax is for the Sheriff’s Office and jail,” Heitman said. “The commission are obligated to assign a minimum of $260,000 from their budget. The rest of it, you control. Don’t worry about the budget, worry about the cash on-hand.”

Morgan, who is still employed as a sergeant with the city of Belle, said he won’t go full-time with the Sheriff’s Office before Jan. 1 when he is sworn into office.

“I have obligations with the city of Belle until January 1,” Morgan said. “I will do as much as I can here on a part-time basis.”

Morgan named his chief deputy, who was sworn into service as a reserve deputy after Morgan.

Nick Bappas, a deputy lieutenant who is currently employed under Osage County Sheriff Mike Bonham, will be second in command when Morgan takes office. Morgan said he had similar expectations of Bappas as he takes the role in which former chief deputy Scott John served.

“We are going to sit down and work out a lot of those details,” Morgan said about the duties Bappas will perform. “But yeah, absolutely, when the sheriff’s out of town or unavailable, the chief deputy will be next in charge.

When asked if he would be working full-time for the Maries County Sheriff’s Office right away, Bappas said he needs to tie up loose ends in Osage County.

“I have something kinda pressing I need to finish in Osage County. I need to get it wrapped up before I leave there,” said Bappas. “I’m not lookin’ to draw a check yet until I can put forth some effort. Sheriff was gracious enough to give me a commission to make it more of a smooth transition.”

Bappas has been a police officer for 27 years.

Morgan said he is willing to learn anything he can from Heitman and anyone else at the Sheriff’s Office before he is sworn into office in January.