I am Mike Hollow, running to be your next Sheriff of Lee County. As a tenured Deputy with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for nearly 17 years, with experience in Patrol, Criminal Investigations, K9, and Internal Affairs as the unit’s Commander, I plan to lead with the integrity and expertise that the Sheriff’s Office and the taxpayers deserve.
My candidacy is far from self-serving. After the last six years of the current Sheriff and his administration stripping every fiber of the strength and flourishing morale of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, I have decided to be the voice for many who cannot speak to the widespread issues within the agency. Many current employees see monumental failures at the agency’s administrative levels but will inevitably face retaliation if they speak up or vote against the current administration. They want change, and the taxpayers need better, more professional results.
I am proposing significant changes to the agency, each lending to a strengthened law enforcement agency to protect Lee County. It will take an aggressive approach to restructure the tangled-up agency, starting at the top. The Sheriff HAS to go, and his administration needs to leave with him. Sheriff Marceno is a true RINO – he has bled the agency of its funding on awful and irresponsible purchases totaling millions of dollars. Marceno is utterly inept in running the largest agency in county government. By all reports, Marcino has needlessly restructured numerous systems and processes within the agency, costing valuable workforce and resources, and altered the landscape that allowed the agency to function normally and maintain strong employee morale for decades.
I know the citizens of our county and the agency’s employees deserve better, and these are just a few ways I will keep my promise of making the Lee County Sheriff’s Office great again.
FORENSIC AUDIT – The Taxpayers of the County fund the Lee County Sheriff’s Office budget. It totals approximately $300 million this year. The current sheriff has increased this budget each year since taking office, and we all have seen the foolish ways he spends it.
—He opened a petting zoo, costing the taxpayer a million dollars. Construction and maintenance likely cost tens of thousands more per year. It generates ZERO revenue.
—He purchased THREE food trucks and turned them into ice cream trucks, which
hands out ice cream for free. It is great marketing for him, but it costs the taxpayer thousands. He uses sworn deputies to operate them; the lowest-paid sworn deputy’s salary is $62,000 plus healthcare and retirement, making these the highest-paid ice cream shop employees, ever.
—LCSO’s fleet of vehicles is REQUIRED to be serviced externally at a dealership; the single most expensive way to have your vehicle serviced. Meanwhile, the agency still employs an entire staff and maintains a facility equipped to service the fleet.
—He bought an AIRPLANE. It cost the taxpayer over $1.5 million. It does not serve any tactical purpose. Fuel, maintenance, pilots, storage, you do the math.
These are just a few examples of how the current Sheriff loves to spend money. There is much more wasteful spending. The Sheriff will tell you that he didn’t use taxpayer funds, which is simply untrue. Wherever the money came from, the sheriff should have used it more wisely, and I worry about the money we don’t see.
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT – Before the current Sheriff decimated it, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office had nearly 40 Deputies assigned to the Traffic Unit. Today, there are less than 15 members. The current Sheriff constantly applauds the agency’s efforts related to traffic enforcement. Still, I know his assertion that he has the traffic problem under control is a pitiful attempt to cover up his inability to manage this issue properly. Our population here in Lee County has increased drastically, as has the traffic enforcement problem. It has reached a breaking point. Every day, we see motorists ignore red lights, reckless and aggressive driving, including significant speeding, increased traffic accidents, and, most importantly – DUI’s. If he had never been given the power to SIGNIFICANTLY SHRINK the size of the traffic unit, there would have been sufficient manpower to address this issue.
I will make this change. We will have a strong and well-trained Traffic Unit. The members of the traffic unit will be empowered to enforce the law to the letter to combat the problems that the current Sheriff has allowed to grow out of control.
REALLOCATION OF RESOURCES – Currently, the agency has 18 people ranked Commander or Higher within the Law Enforcement Bureau (only one-half of the agency), creating the epitome of the “too many Chiefs and not enough Indians” scenario. Many of these are high-paid middle management who are back at headquarters or behind a desk, not assigned to the units performing the work the citizens need most. When I started as a deputy in 2004, with a population of 520,000, we had five to six deputies working at night per district. Today, with over 820,000 people in Lee County, only seven and eight deputies work at night per district. The result is longer response times and more time-consuming calls for service. Also, this results in decreased morale and the deteriorating mental health of those deputies who have to carry an impossible workload with no additional support.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is one of the largest entities within Lee County as a whole, not just within the government. It is home to almost two thousand employees. The people love their mission of public service. Within the last six years, they have watched it deteriorate into a dictatorship riddled with low morale and favoritism benefiting those who bow to the Sheriff’s administration. I understand the citizens and taxpayers of the county may not understand the effects of the agency’s inner workings. However, I can promise you that fostering a toxic work environment like this current Sheriff has managed most definitely translates to unhappy employees and reduces their passion and excitement for the job.
I want a more secure Lee County; Marcino’s current rhetoric regarding crime statistics doesn’t reflect the reality of the citizens’ feelings. I want our deputies to be tenacious and passionate in combatting crime, not just used as pawns in the current Sheriff’s endeavor to be the most popular politician. I want a fiscally responsible agency; the excessive spending and needless purchases must stop. Finally, I want true transparency. Elected officials are supposed to be there as representatives of the people who elected them to serve. The voters and residents of Lee County deserve an honest Sheriff who won’t cover up his wrongdoings but rather lead with honesty and integrity every day.
Remember my name. I am Mike Hollow. Write my name on your ballot for Sheriff on November election day.
I look forward to serving you.
Paid by Mike Hollow, write in candidate for Lee County Sheriff
