County hires jail consultant
From left to right: Humboldt County Chief Deputy Cory Lampe, Humboldt County Sheriff Dean Kruger and Webster County Jail Administrator Steve “Wally” Ellifritz meet with the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Monday morning. Lampe asked that the county be allowed to hire Ellifritz as a part-time jail consultant for a three-month period, to help Lampe and Deputy Roger Bennett coordinate jail operations, make improvements and develop an updated policies and procedures manual. Humboldt Independent photo.
As a 20-plus year law enforcement veteran, there are few situations that Humboldt County Chief Deputy Sheriff Cory Lampe is not prepared for.
But one of his duties since taking over as chief deputy in mid-February, is overseeing the Humboldt County Jail.
That is the one thing Lampe was not prepared for.
“I’ve never been a jailer in my life and I’ve never trained to operate a jail. I found out when I took over that there are a lot of things I need to know about."
He proposed hiring Steve "Wally" Ellifritz, the chief jail administrator for Webster County as a part-time consultant and acting jail administrator. He could work 20 hours per week for a period of about three months, Lampe said.
“Our idea is that he can work some nights and weekends and observe what is going on and give us some ideas on how to manage and improve the jail,” Lampe said.
He said with Ellifritz helping out, the department will hold off hiring a full-time jailer until some time later in the summer.
The Board of Supervisors thought the idea was a good one and agreed to the hire.
Read more about this week's meeting in the Humboldt Independent. Subscribe by clicking on the link at the top of the page.
