Wednesday, May , 2004
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Wednesday, May , 2004 |
Sheriff: "Don't tear down my shed"By JOHN MUNFORD Facing a threat by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners to tear down a storage shed that also serves as a helicopter hangar, Sheriff Randall Johnson is suing the commission, seeking a temporary injunction to leave the building up until the matter can be settled in court. Underpinning the public hangar dispute is a wrestling match over who controls hundreds of thousands of dollars of drug forfeiture money, currently under the sheriff’s jurisdiction. The commission wants the federally-dispensed funds to come through its bank account. The suit, filed in Fayette Superior Court Thursday, claims the commission gave the sheriff permission to use the site “as an impound lot and storage facility to store certain law enforcement equipment.” A recent letter to Johnson from the commission indicates that if the shed is not taken down by June 1, the commission will take it down the next day. The commission contends that Johnson should have gotten a building permit from the county before constructing the shed. Johnson’s suit alleges that the commission itself has constructed several public buildings without applying for or receiving a building permit. Johnson said he tried to work out the issue with the commissioners but has been unsuccessful. “We were just backed into a corner and we had to do something,” Johnson said. “I didn’t want to sue them.” Johnson said he would abide by a judge’s decision on the case, but he felt compelled to let the commission know the department “was not going to roll over.” Among the items kept in the shed is the department’s helicopter, which was a sore spot between the sheriff and the commission even before it was purchased. The shed also stores a rescue boat, four-wheel utility vehicles, a utility cart and other law enforcement equipment, the sheriff said. The shed was built using money from the department’s drug forfeiture fund, which has been another sore subject between Johnson and County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn. In a letter to Johnson dated April 29, the commissioners told Johnson to remove the shed, which is now located where the magistrate court and juvenile court used to be, near the intersection of Jimmie Mayfield Avenue and Johnson Avenue. The commission set a June 1 deadline. “The sheriff has no reasonable alternative location for storing the equipment and the equipment will be at risk,” if the building is removed by the county, the lawsuit states. Although the county has complained it did not issue a building permit for the shed, Johnson says in the lawsuit that the county hasn’t issued permits for several of its buildings and also that the remedy would be through a summons or similar citation, not by taking the building down. “The defendants have no authority to remove the building,” the suit states. The commission has also complained that the building is in violation of zoning ordinances. Johnson contends in the suit that a specific court case shows that governmental entities such as the sheriff’s department are “not subject to county zoning regulations.” The letter also instructs the sheriff to follow all of the county’s purchasing procedures. If the sheriff needs to know more information about the policy, the letter said a “repeat of the purchasing user training class is available.” Another issue the commission and the sheriff have wrangled about was also addressed in the letter. All confiscated drug funds will now be directed to the Finance Department. “These funds will be maintained in a separate account for Sheriff’s Department use,” the letter said. Previously, the funds went straight to the sheriff’s office. The letter was signed by all five county commissioners. Johnson is represented in the lawsuit by former Peachtree City City Attorney Rick Lindsey and his associate, Michele M. Bradley. Johnson has been serving as sheriff since 1977, making him the longest-serving sheriff in Fayette County history. Dunn is in his second term as commissioner. Three commissioners are running for reelection this year: Herb Frady, A.G. VanLandingham and Peter Pfeifer. Frady and Pfeifer face opposition in the July GOP primary.
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