Sheriff continues holding report Commissioners invoke charter in Camden incident involving stun gun

ROCKLAND – A Knox County commissioner challenged Sheriff Donna Dennison’s administrative power on Tuesday, invoking the county charter to assert the commissioners’ role as the ultimate authority in the shire.

Speaking at the commission meeting at the Knox County Courthouse, Commissioner Lawrence F. Nash read a section from the charter, stating, “All power of the county shall be vested in the county commissioners.”

“The commission shall exercise final authority over all county departments, and all county offices,” Nash read further.

Nash was making a point that Dennison exceeded her authority by withholding from the commission a report prepared by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department concerning off-duty Knox County deputies involved in shocking another off-duty deputy with a stun gun during a bachelor party in Camden last August.

“Under the section of administration,” Nash read, “the county administrator is deemed the administration official responsible for all the departments and offices controlled by the commission.”

“That means, the county administrator, basically, is in charge of this county in our absence or in our place,” Nash said.

“The bottom line is, we are the elected officials who run the county,” Nash said.

“If the charter leaves doubt, we’ve got to take the doubt out of the charter,” he said. “But, I feel the charter is very clear and does a good job.

“What I’m looking for is the board’s clarification on the charter,” he said.

Commissioner Chairman Mason Johnson called the text read by Nash “pretty well said. It doesn’t leave much room for interpretation.”

“You are the boss,” Nash told County Administrator Andrew Hart. “That’s why we wrote this charter.”

Hart said he didn’t have any more to add to Nash’s statement and that as far as the charter is concerned, “it’s very clear. But then the ambiguities in the personnel policy and the union contract pose a problem.”

Nash replied that the charter overrides the personnel policy, and the commissioners’ authority also supersedes union rules.

“The report should be in your hands,” he reiterated to Hart.

Commissioner Anne Beebe-Center said the charter delegates the county commissioners’ authority to the county administrator and is important for consistency.

She said she agreed with Nash and felt just as strongly as he did about the role of the administrator.

The personnel committee is scheduled to revise the personnel policy this year, she added.

At the end of the meeting, Dennison, who was sitting quietly in the back of the room during the discussion, told Hart she wanted to talk with him privately.

Later on Tuesday afternoon, after his private conversation with Dennison, Hart said the sheriff was continuing to hold on to the report while she determines what action to take with individuals in her department. She says that under labor union rules she has a right to hold the report for 20 days, he said.

“Dennison is following union rules,” Hart said.

Hart said he was going to call the county attorney to see his take on the conflict.

Dennison did not respond to a call for comment made to her office Tuesday.