In their final full meeting of the year Monday, the Bartholomew County Commissioners honored outgoing Sheriff Matt Myers.
Prevented by term limits from seeking a third term, Myers will be succeeded Jan. 1 by Maj. Chris Lane, who currently serves as chief deputy sheriff. Myers announced Nov. 9 that he will seek the GOP nomination to become mayor of Columbus in 2023 after current mayor Jim Lienhoop confirmed he will not seek reelection.
After receiving a plaque Monday commemorating his “eight years of dedicated service to the residents of Bartholomew County”, Myers said everything he has done was built upon the work and successes of previous sheriffs.
Former two-term sheriff Mark Gorbett, who currently serves on the Bartholomew County Council, said Myers is leaving some big shoes to fill.
One of Myers’ signature developments was the creation of the Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team. Created just days after he took office in January 2015, the team includes selected officers from both the Columbus police and the sheriff’s departments to work as one unit to pursue drug dealers. The team also includes a deputy prosecutor who was chosen to handle all drug cases filed in the county.
But another effective component was the assignment of a deputy to work full time with a federal narcotics team, which Myers said paved the way to the arrest of large-scale drug dealers in urban areas such as Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
Other accomplishments during Myers’ tenure include obtaining body and car cameras, installing body scanners for individuals before they are booked into the county jail, providing drug addiction treatment and creating a pay matrix for merit deputies that accounted for specialized training, longevity, shift differentials and military experience.
The pay matrix has been credited with helping to reduce the pay disparity between Columbus Police officers and sheriff’s deputies.
Gorbett also commended the outgoing sheriff for his use of social media in his law enforcement efforts, as well as for scheduling and attending public meetings to hear concerns of residents residing in different rural areas of Bartholomew County.
Traditionally, the office of sheriff has attracted the largest number of candidates in a mid-term election. As former Bartholomew County Republican chairwoman Barb Hackman said in 2014, the office is considered the highest paying elected position in Bartholomew County government.
While Myers’ base salary for 2022 was $127,960, he worked his final three years without a contract, which allowed him to take a percentage of the proceeds raised by sheriff’s tax sales up until he was earning 80% of the county prosecutor’s salary. So when Myers first sought the GOP nomination for sheriff in 2014, three other Republican candidates sought the same office during the Republican primary.
But even with the high pay, Gorbett says Lane ran unopposed this year because a number of law enforcement officers don’t want the office for a number of reasons. For example, Gorbett said the position is a 24/7 job, which becomes extremely stressful because a sheriff must make decisions in seconds.
Being sheriff also means you can expect to find yourself a defendant in multiple lawsuits being filed against you personally, Gorbett said.
In the months ahead, Myers can expect to continue to receive calls in the middle of the night by residents unaware that he is no longer Bartholomew County’s top lawman, Gorbett said.
“When I walked away from being sheriff, I had gray hair,” Gorbett said. “I see why that happened. I see why Matt has gray hair now. And Chris (Lane) will have gray hair by the time he’s done.”
