Sheriff reports staff hires, peer‑support resignation and rising cost of electronic monitoring

Sheriff Perry updated the board on staffing and jail operations, saying one recruit, Alex Faith, is at a Portland Police Department pre‑academy and another candidate has accepted a conditional offer after an academy waiver. "We closed out the month ... just under 6,000 calls for service," he said, noting that call volume fell about 7% compared with 2023.

Perry reported that the county's peer support/recovery counselor, Michelle Hooper, has resigned and will take a position as a case manager at the Midcoast Youth Center; the sheriff said he and his team will work with the addiction resource center to refill the role. He also outlined a budget concern: courts are increasingly not ordering defendants to pay for electronic monitoring, leaving the county to cover monitoring costs he described as "about $7 a day," which is adding up in the jail budget.

Commissioners asked follow‑up questions about court practices and whether judges could be asked to reintroduce cost orders; the sheriff said he will follow up with the courts and review the county financial lines where monitoring revenue is lagging. He also reported jail population numbers and inter‑county housing arrangements and briefed the board on outreach and electronic monitoring supervision.

The administration and commissioners thanked the sheriff for the update and asked for continued monitoring of revenue impacts tied to electronic monitoring and jail operations.