Sheriff Threatens to Sue Schoolcraft County

Schoolcraft County Sheriff Grant Harris is upset about county funding for the sheriff’s department.

So upset, in fact, that he’s threatening to sue the county.

Harris claims that when the County Board passed the 2010 budget last week, they didn’t grant the department the funding it needs to operate safely.

The secondary road patrol officer is being eliminated.

And Undersheriff Mike Gierke’s house are being cut to below half-time.

The undersheriff job had been part-time for more than 30 years, and Schoolcraft County was the only county in Michigan where that was the case.

When Harris was elected last year, he asked that the position be made full-time.

The county board did that last December on the condition that Gierke work afternoons.

County Board Chair Gerald Zellar claims Gierke eventually refused to work the afternoon shifts.

And for that reason, he says the county wasn’t getting what it was paying for.