Sheriff's donation of a pickup to health department questioned

MOUND CITY – On Monday, Aug. 28, the commissioners received a letter from the Linn County Health Department Director Amanda Snyder asking the commissioners permission to accept the donation of a vehicle from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

Commissioner Jim Johnson questioned whether that was proper procedure to move equipment from one department to another.

Sheriff Kevin Friend said he did not think there was anything precluding it.

Johnson asked County Counselor Gary Thompson if that was the way the county does it.

Thompson said the sheriff’s vehicles are under his control, so if he wants to offer it to somebody he can do that without commission approval. Theoretically, Snyder would need your approval to accept it since there will be operating expenses to operate it.

Friend said that his department had previously gifted a car to the Information Technology department when it was being replaced.

The sheriff said that the vehicle being transferred to the health department, a 2016 Dodge four-door pickup, had a trade-in value of $2,000 but the pickup was worth more than that.

During the meeting, the commission struck a $20,000 line item for a vehicle from the health department’s 2024 budget.

Snyder has requested a vehicle to tow the department’s enclosed trailer to events they sponsor around the county. She said that without a vehicle, the department had to depend on vehicles from other departments to tow the trailer. She also suggested that the vehicle be able to carry all the needed staff to those events.

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Friend said he saw that the health department had a need and he had a dependable vehicle his department wasn’t using that would fill that need.

He said that the health department has been instrumental as a frontline healthcare provider for inmates in the county jail, which has saved his department considerable expense. He also pointed out that the vehicle was still in the county’s inventory.

The commission did not act on Snyder’s request to accept the donation.