Hood River County Sheriff Matt English updates Cascade Locks City Council on coverage, addresses deportation

During the meeting, Hood River County Sheriff Matt English gave an in-person update. He assured the council that his department is now fully staffed, and that Deputy Corbett Blackman has been assigned to the contracted Cascade Locks patrol.

Councilor Bernard Seeger asked specifically about the deportations taking place across the nation under the order of President Trump. English explained that instructions from Washington, D.C., are a bit unclear, and he was traveling there to seek clarity, among other tasks. He reminded the council that Oregon state law mandates that “[local] law enforcement can’t enforce immigration law.”

In other news, the final results of the 2021-22 audit were then presented to the council. The city received a high score overall from auditor Aldrich and Associates, with minor suggestions for improvement. One of the audit deficiencies, that certain financial statements were due and not submitted leading to the delay of the audit, was questioned by Councilor Marianne Bump, who was finance director at that time. Bump said appropriate internal controls were in place.

“They were on the computer. Nobody saw them. Nobody looked for them,” she said.

The representative concurred that the documents may have been in place, but the audit team did not receive them from city staff. Later, the council approved submitting the plan to address audit deficiencies, which will all be resolved by the recent hiring of a Finance Director Chantia Clarke. The position had been open for some time.

The next city council meeting will be held Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.