Muskegon County sheriff discusses placing two deputies, two vehicles in Freeport Township under budget-neutral arrangement

Ken Sanford of the Muskegon County Sheriff's Office told the Board of Commissioners that Freeport Township asked for help addressing upcoming retirements and staffing shortages, and the county has agreed to put two deputies into the township as part of a budget-neutral arrangement.

"We were approached by Freeport Township, supervisor and head of public safety regarding staffing issues that they were having," Sanford said. He said the township will cover the personnel costs for the two positions while the county will provide two take-home vehicles; the township will cover vehicle maintenance. Sanford said the deputies would work night shifts to provide relief so township officers could cover day shifts.

Sanford said the county will hire two people for the positions and expects to staff them with veteran deputies. Commissioners asked whether the county would cover the vehicles and why the township was not also covering that cost; Sanford said the county decided to "help them a little bit with that" and described the vehicle arrangement as part of the mutual cooperation. He added the township indicated the arrangement may be ongoing rather than a one-year trial and that any extension would be negotiable.

Commissioners praised the partnership. There was no formal motion text included in the provided transcript segments for this item and no explicit recorded vote in those segments; the conversation in the transcript focused on operational details and next steps rather than a discrete board action.

Details: two deputies; two county vehicles provided; township covers personnel costs and vehicle maintenance; deputies assigned primarily to Freeport Township and wearing county uniforms and following county reporting structure.