The Road to Nowhere

Money Talks...

     "You understand that's not how this works now, Mr. Davidson?" Jes asked sternly. Davidson didn't waste any time in trying to bureaucratically brow beat her into submission. After she was sworn in there was a brief period of handshakes with congratulations both meaningful and veiled disdain. The State Auditor had a brief discussion with her about access to the emergency funds and how important it was to keep all the dated receipts for the things that she was going to buy for the Department. Davidson apparently had other ideas.

    He pushed his horn-rimmed glasses up as he gazed at her with a perturbed look, " I assure you that it is how it is going to work. You will provide the Board with a list of everything purchased for the department with accompanying receipts every week.", he doubled down on his annoyed look.

    Jes took in a deep breath to center herself as she looked at the monitor of the very outdated computer, "According to Departmental Policy, I must report to the Sheriff monthly about purchases and expenditures related to keep the department functioning. Policy says nothing about reporting to the board of commissioners."

    "We are the Board of Commissioners we are the absolute authority of county.',

    "Sic semper tyrannis mean anything to you?", Jes replies with a wicked smirk.

    Davidson thought for a second. His face told Jesalyn everything she needed to know as apparently, he figured it out, "We are not tyrants. We must take the best interest of the communities of the county at the heart that includes how it's protected."

    "No, Mr. Davidson, the protection of County is my job.", Mitch said from behind the man having heard more than enough of the man's attempts to reassume his lost control of departments funds, "Miss Masters is free to use the emergency funds we have be blessed with to get the department back up to speed."

    "First thing is to hire an IT firm to update this antiquated computer system. Who in the hell still uses Windows XP?", she gruffly asked.

    "A department being hindered by people who say they have the best interest of the county at heart," Mitch delivered the comment with perfect timing with sarcasm dripping from every word.

    "Sheriff, you have to respect the wishes of the Board," Davidson turned and pointed his finger at Mitch.

    "No, Davidson, I must protect the county despite the wishes of the board. You know the people who have been deprived of a fully functioning Sheriff's Department because the Board didn't think it was in the county's best interest."

    Davidson looked as if Mitch just slapped him across the face. He shook his head and began to leave the office they were in, "The Board will hear about this. They won't let this stand."

    "Mr. Davidson," Jes said to gain back his attention.

    He stopped and turned to her," Yes, Miss Masters."

    "I expect the transfer of the Departments funds back to the Departments account by noon, sir."

    "You'll have it by the end of the week, Miss Masters," he defiantly answered back.

    "It's a simple wire transfer. Noon or you'll have to answer the STATE auditor as to the reason for the delay," Jes stated firmly. The whole interaction had already told her so much about the Board. Their apparent corruption seeped into every word Davidson had said from the beginning of this conversation. Threating to take it to the State auditor would ensure compliance as she didn't think the Board would want to deal with a large-scale investigation into the matter. She couldn't out them right now the ensuing backlash would have a negative effect on the Department.

    The comment had its desired effect as Davidson turn pale as ash, "Yes, Miss Masters," he said then quickly left.

    Mitch watched the man leave and chuckled while turning his attention to Jesalyn, "Well that was entertaining."

    "You haven't seen anything yet," she chuckled with him.

    "Oh, you have something planned?"

   "I have a lot planned, Sheriff," she smiled.

   "You can still call me Mitch when we are having private discussions here."

    Jes looked at him for a long moment. She noticed he had freshly shaved his face leaving only the half goatee which was trimmed nicely. He still needed a haircut, but he definitely looked a lot more attractive now, "You shaved. Looks good, but are you sure about our interactions at work? I don't want to give a bad perception to the deputies."

    "Yes. We can be informal with each other in our offices. I appreciate your willingness to adhere to proper decorum, but honestly until we start getting new deputies, I'd say casual formal has been the norm here," he said with a smile. He felt good that she noticed he shaved. To be honest he felt the need to look more professional," So what Ideas do you got besides a whole new IT infrastructure?"

   Jes smiled seeing that he appreciated her noticing, "Well hiring is going to be a little tedious until word get out that we can actually hire, but until then I think getting updated vehicles and equipment should be addressed quickly."

    He nodded. So far within the last four hours Jesalyn had shown that she could handle herself in several situations, especially handling the backlash the Board of Commissioners is already trying, "Question is how much do we got to play with?"

    "The emergency grant or should I say grants total five point five million."

    Mitch let out a whistle of surprise, "That's quite a bit."

    "Not really. Considering your budget has only been eight million for the last decade. Through a cursory look at the bills here you have just under a million in operating cost. The State auditor told me to expect the transfer of the remaining balance of the department's budget that should total one hundred and fifteen million dollars," Jes explained.

    Mitch looked like he was about to faint, "A hundred and fifteen million? How?"

    Jes couldn't help but giggle at Mitch's dumbfounded look, "We're retroactively getting the budget for the last ten years with interest and adjusted accordingly with county levies that should have generated additional revenue to the department's budget."

    Mitch sat down on the chair in front of Jes' desk, "Okay I'm a little overwhelmed here. How are we going to handle all of this?"

    "Hiring a good financial team would be a good idea, but no one from Nowhere should be considered."

    That made sense to his rapidly racing mind. Never in all his years as a Deputy had he had to worry about the finance side of things. "That's a good idea, but how do we go about that?"

     Jes understood Mitch's plight all too well. For a short while before Jason Albrecht took over as section leader from her, she ran the cell when her former section leader and mentor Harvey Brannagan abruptly retired without so much as a warning. Having to manage close to sixty million dollars in assets was a bit overwhelming at first, but unlike Mitch, Jesalyn had a team of people to help, "I know a few people. I was about to get in contact with them to get a game plan. How about we just stick to getting to getting Equipment for right now?"

    Mitch took a deep breath to release some tension, "Okay sounds good. What equipment are we talking about?"

    Jes looked at him with a cheesy grin, "With what started this whole day off.....Guns."