The Marshall County Council approved the request of Sheriff Matt Hassel and Highway Superintendent Jason Peters to waive the 90 percent pay for a new employee.
This week Sheriff Hassel told council members a part-time turnkey/dispatcher who has worked for the department since Nov. 2019 has been moved to full time.
Peters told the council he hired Howard Holcomb who already has his class A CDL license and is well qualified to be an area leader.
The council approved their requests. They also approved the Sheriff’s request to purchase a second K9 for the department.
Matt Hassel said they had planned to extend the K9 program for the last year-and-a-half but when COVID hit it took a back seat. Hassel said the new K9 dog was trained in Knox at Jager Elite K9 by Chad Dulin and is now available for purchase. The sheriff said the Marshall County Prosecutor is willing to help support the expansion financially.
The sheriff said he has $223,000 in his commissary fund and he would like to use $10,000 for the dog and training. He said it will take about $9,000 of outfit a cage in a patrol vehicle to accommodate the dog. Hassel said they will also be seeking contributions to cover all costs.
The County Council unanimously approved the expenditure of commissary funds to purchase a second K9 for the Sheriff’s Department.
