Gage County Sheriff Will Not Seek Reelection
By Gordon Hopkins
Gage County Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson recently announced he will not be seeking reelection this year.
Gustafson was first elected sheriff in 2006, with more than three decades experience in law enforcement before that. How the job has changed is a source of frustration for him.
“Well, I can tell you, I miss the old days with typewriters. Now all this technology. That is what’s really driving my budgets anymore, is technology,” said Sheriff Gustafson in a recent interview. “We went spent a lot of money on new body cameras and car cameras. The old days, my word was worth gold. Nowadays, it’s not recorded, it didn’t happen. So, we’ve got to change with the times, and that was several $100,000 for that stuff.”
However, it is not just technology that has changed the job over the years.
“The mandates on a sheriff’s office, and some are unfunded, have always been a challenge. Trying to run a lean budget, because that’s what people expect, and try to do the job you got to do, is challenging,” said the sheriff. “Pretty much across the country, sheriffs, they have to do back taxes and titles and security for the court and the judges and civil process and the jails, so much more than then chiefs of police do. You know it’s just a whole different ballgame, and it’s just a lot on the plate to try to keep up on and to do your job and still keep it within a budget, that’s tolerable.”
When Gustafson first ran for sheriff, his platform consisted of three priorities: drugs, transparency, and updating the jail.
Gustafson said, “On the drug side of things, I hired a full-time drug investigator, which has really made a dent for us here. He’s doing a bang-up job there.”
Regarding transparency, “I got a very informational, proper website. Got that going. I put out a lot of releases on things we think kind of important to media and the public.”
While Gustafson believes he was successful regarding his first two campaign promises, his still expresses frustration regarding the third, “Currently, the jail is outdated, and we’ve been fixing it up.”
More than 29 specific deficiencies were identified with the jail facility. Gustafson, “The Jail Standards Board, they gave me five years, and we crammed it through pretty much, and got most of that done.”
However, the sheriff still believes the facility needs a complete modernization and not just fixes, “The actual facility itself was built back in the 70s, and now we can’t get parts for some stuff.”
A previous attempt at a bond was unsuccessful. A new bond is now in the works but, as badly as he thinks it is needed, Gustafson is doubtful it will pass given the current political climate, “You know, the mood’s not real good right now, with all the taxes going up.”
Despite these frustrations, Sheriff Gustafson believes he is leaving the office in better shape than when he first arrived, which was his goal, “It’s been a good run.”
One candidate, Deputy Spencer Behrens, has already filed to run for sheriff in Gage County. Non-incumbent candidates have until March 2 of this year to file.
