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Sweetwater County sheriff outlines ICE-related revenues, announces May 31 resignation
Summary
Sheriff Grossenkel told commissioners the county has received stipends, transport payments and inmate-housing revenue tied to ICE and other contracts and announced he will vacate the sheriff—hair effective May 31. He said the county will address vacancy procedures at the June 2 meeting.
Sheriff Grossenkel told the Sweetwater County Board of Commissioners on May 19 that recent community rumors about the county nd ICE funding were inaccurate and provided line-item figures for stipends, transport payments and inmate housing revenues tied to intergovernmental contracts.
Grossenkel said wages for task-force and ICE details that have been paid so far total $6,584 with an additional $6,645 billed, for $13,002.29 to date, and that the county could expect another $7,500 to $10,000 in wages through Aug. 1. He said the county received a $100,000 transport stipend in October that remains in the county bank. Equipment and IT stipends totaled $22,500 for the first quarter and $45,000 for January through March; he projected total stipends could reach about $377,500 by October. He reported $20,530 paid so far for detention staff wages and mileage to transport detainees and anticipated another ~$20,000 by October.
On inmate housing revenue, Grossenkel reported a figure he described as the total "received from all sources so far this year" and read it to the board as $527,001,126. He framed the combined effect of stipends, transport payments and inmate housing as producing substantial revenue to the department, saying the detention program "will be generating well over" $1,000,000.
Separately, Grossenkel announced his intent to vacate the office of sheriff effective May 31 and thanked staff, elected officials and his family. Chair West said the board will take formal action after the office is vacated and will place an item on the June 2 agenda to initiate the vacancy process.
Commissioners and the sheriff praised working relationships between the sheriff's office and county staff; several commissioners publicly thanked Grossenkel for his service. The board did not take any vote on personnel at the May 19 meeting.
Note on reported figures: the sheriff presented the monetary figures verbally during the meeting; the board did not amend those figures on the record during the session. Journalists seeking clarification should request county accounting records for line-by-line verification.
