Story 2

Rosalie Young
Feb. 10, 2010
Story 2
County commissioners vote






CENTER CITY--- Thursday afternoon at the Chisago County Courthouse was the scene of an eruption of tempers in the county commissioners’ meeting. The issue revolved around Sheriff Gus DiCesari’s request for eight new squad cars and the hiring of five new deputies. “You’re putting the lives of the people of this county in jeopardy,” stated DiCesari.. Responding to this impassioned plea, Commissioner Anne Chenn vehemently disagreed. She, along with commissioners: Valerie Dawkins, Faith Ellis, Jose Gardez and Roland Grauman, stood their ground and stated the county does not have the funding . With a budget of $127 million, DiCesari is requesting $580,000.
“It is getting too costly to maintain the older vehicles and they spend too much time in the repair shop. You commissioners eliminated the equipment budgets for my department this year and now I can’t buy anything. This is the first time in my 27 years as sheriff that the county hasn’t allocated money to the sheriff’s department to buy equipment. My deputies can’t keep driving these old vehicles. Something bad is going to happen,” he warned.
Commissioners Anita Shenuski and Raymond Laybourne said that law enforcement and

the sheriff’s department deserved more attention and funds than the programs for migrant

workers who come to the county to work.
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An estimated 5000 migrant families now live in Chisago County. They work in agricultural, construction and service industry jobs.
Commissioner Shenuski argued, “We never had problems until we began letting migrants come to this county to work. They are a problem for our law enforcement, our schools and our healthcare system. They take away jobs from decent people and work for next to nothing and if something gets stolen, you can bet it is one of them that’s taken it. We need to protect local residents from them.”
On the other side of the fence, Chenn denied that immigrants are the problem, “Those people who come here to work are decent, hardworking people being employed at jobs that local residents don’t want to do. They add a great deal to the local economy and they pay taxes. You are being a hypocrite when you try to blame those people for everything.”
The shortage of funds for law enforcement equipment was attributed to the higher cost of fuel and healthcare for county employees. A new $30 million prison was erected this year to alleviate overcrowding. As tempers cooled, Chenn suggested that the squad cars not be driven to the deputies’ homes at the end of the work day. She noted that would make more cars available and preserve mileage. Sheriff DiCesari disagreed again. His view is that seeing police cruisers in the neighborhoods is a great deterrent to crime.
The commissioners voted 5-2 against the sheriff’s request.
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