STEVENSON — Skamania County Sheriff Summer Scheyer wants to change the way her office manages volunteers. Two volunteer groups, Search and Rescue and the Dive Team, are connected to the sheriff’s office through their official names, but aren’t under its oversight. Search and Rescue is, in fact, its own tax-exempt non-profit organization.Â
Around the Gorge, sheriffs offer a variety of volunteer opportunities, including riding horses in parades or to assist with rescues in Wasco County, or doing security patrols as part of Klickitat County’s volunteer posse. Scheyer says she’s looking to Clark County’s Sheriff Auxiliary as a model. She introduced the idea at a recent county commissioners’ meeting, and later spoke with Uplift Local.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Uplift Local: How would you describe the problem you’re trying to solve?
Sheriff Scheyer: How can you have a team that bears your sheriff’s office name, which basically represents the sheriff’s office, without any type of oversight? I think it’s a huge liability. That really concerns me.Â
UL:Â What exactly are you hoping to do, and how exactly is it going to work?
Scheyer: I don’t feel comfortable with voluntary teams having the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office name without a real solid tie to the sheriff’s office, or oversight. I think there’s some extremely blurred lines there. Also, we have a very nominal amount of money that comes directly to the sheriff’s office for our volunteer teams, either through donations or through surplus equipment. And we’re not able to utilize it because [the volunteers] aren’t tied directly to the county, and you can’t [donate] county funds. So there’s been a lot of confusion with that. Also, they can’t utilize our county equipment as it stands. So I just want to clean it up a little bit. But I’m also looking at expanding our volunteer groups. I want to be able to utilize volunteers from the county, especially [because] we’re doing a lot more with less because of budget cuts and constraints.
UL:Â What does the new idea of oversight look like?
Scheyer: That’s still in the works. I don’t have exactly what that might look like. Just cleaning up and having more ideas on what training is, and making sure that aligns with Washington Administrative Code and the Revised Code of Washington.
UL: Do you know if it doesn’t align right now?
Scheyer:Â I believe it does, but I want to make sure of that, and be able to have record keeping within our agency that aligns.
UL:Â It sounds like another big issue is insurance.
Scheyer: I wouldn’t say a big issue. Our [insurance] risk pool covers our equipment. I won’t allow our volunteers to utilize any of our sheriff’s office equipment because it does not cover them. The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team’s equipment is independently insured. Search and Rescue operations are covered under emergency management, both training and missions. So let’s say somebody’s lost on Mount St. Helens for the millionth time. If [volunteers] are injured, if they have equipment damage, the state will cover all of that. So insurance isn’t a huge problem.
UL:Â Search and Rescue is an independent nonprofit group. Are there any things that are particularly unique to working with them?
Scheyer: They do have their own bylaws. But we can look at potentially having some type of board with the auxiliary that makes recommendations to their executive board. Maybe having a couple people from Skamania County, just the public, that maybe have some type of volunteer or public safety background, and I would like to sit on that board. We also have emergency operations center volunteers. We also have ham radio volunteers. And all of those are operating somewhat independently. Having kind of one-stop shopping, and making a robust general volunteer team to support the sheriff’s office, I think is going to be beneficial. And having some type of recommendation board to be able to ensure all of this is operating smoothly would be ideal.Â
UL: How is what you’re hoping to do with volunteers in Skamania County similar, and how is it different, from the posse volunteer group in Klickitat County?
Scheyer: There’s a lot of differences, but I don’t really want to get into the particulars, because I have not sat down with Sheriff Songer and spelled out his entire posse program. So there’s not a way for me to say this is different or this is going to be the same.
UL: There’s a list that he has on the website. Maybe you can tell me if these are things you’re thinking about or not. It says posse opportunities include, but are not limited to, crime prevention through security patrols.
Scheyer:Â This would be much different. My vision is in the infancy stages, but when I proposed this [to the Skamania County Board of Commissioners] I specifically stated maybe trying to alleviate some overtime issues with simple things like traffic control, parking enforcement, things like that.Â
UL: A couple other things Songer mentions are assisting the sheriff’s office during emergencies and property monitoring during vacations. These are things that you have not mentioned. Are they on your radar at all?
Scheyer:Â Possibly.Â
UL: What’s your timeline?
Scheyer: I would like to say, by the end of 2025. So we can roll into 2026 with at least the inception of it, and then go from there.
UL:Â Thank you so much.
Scheyer: You’re super welcome.Â
Read full meeting notes by Documenter Linda Zeigenfuss from the Skamania Board of County Commissioner’s Sept. 30 meeting, where the sheriff’s proposal was mentioned during the public comment period.
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