Hunt appointed as Adams County Sheriff

The Adams County Commissioners unanimously moved to appoint current undersheriff John Hunt as Adams County Sheriff, effective on Sept. 1.

The position becomes vacant at midnight on Aug. 31 following the retirement of Sheriff Doug Barger.

After undergoing an interview with the Adams County Republican Central Committee and the board of commissioners, and as the sole applicant for the position, Hunt received the appointment for the office on Aug. 26. The interview and appointment occurred before Hunt begins his term as sheriff because of the three-day weekend and the commissioners did not wish to leave the position vacant.

The commissioners conducted a public interview with Hunt to discuss his priorities if appointed sheriff, staffing issues in the department and who he might appoint undersheriff, as well as a variety of other topics surround the Adams County Sheriff’s Department.

Hunt said he has not made an official decision of whom he wants to appoint into the undersheriff position and intends to wait around a month before selecting an individual to serve in his previous position. He has discussed the possibility of becoming undersheriff with three individuals and while he has not made his final decision, he plans to have the undersheriff’s office be based in Othello.

“Regardless who I pick, whether they even were from up here, their office is going to be in Othello,” Hunt said about the selection of an undersheriff. “While it’s worked pretty well with Doug and I, we share an office up here, it hasn’t always worked well when we’re trying to deal with people, but we are from different ends of the county and that has worked well. And I see that as a plus.”

Hunt said while the sheriff’s office is run out of Ritzville; the majority of crime occurs in Othello and proves to be the biggest downside for the office’s location.

Currently, the department is down two deputies with the potential of two positions becoming vacant within the next month. The most recent transfers to the department are both laterals, and Hunt said they are working out great, but the department still needs more patrolmen.

“Right now, my immediate goals for patrol is to get some people trained and hired,” Hunt said.

“Especially at the other end of the county, we’re really short handed right now; guys are working a lot more standby times and lot more hours.”

The biggest issue in bringing qualified individuals to the area is finding ways to entice them to move and stay in the community, and Hunt said he is not sure he has a solution to draw more staff members.

Hunt hopes to have a sit down with the commissioners to discuss a short-term and long-term goals for the various departments inside of the sheriff’s office. One of the most crucial decisions needing to be made is what to do with the jail, Hunt said, as the jail continues to be an issue.

“My goal is to get this department, (to) get some good quality people back up and trained so we can provide quality law enforcement to Adams County,” Hunt said. “It’s going to be tough and it’s going to take some time. The training process is unfortunately kind of a long thing and where we lost so many people in a short amount of time, it makes it tough.”

After conducting the interview with Hunt, the commissioners moved to appoint Hunt to the position of sheriff at the conclusion of Barger’s term. Hunt serves in the role of sheriff until the 2014 election, when Hunt can make the decision to run for a four-year term in the office.

Adams County Auditor Nancy McBroom swore Hunt into office on Monday afternoon in the commissioner’s office.