ST. LOUIS 鈥 The city sheriff鈥檚 office went before aldermen this week to make its case for a bigger budget in the upcoming fiscal year. Most of it was standard: the office asked for more money. Aldermen listened politely to the pleas.
Then the golf carts came up.
Alderman Matt Devoti, of the Hill, seized on Sheriff Alfred Montgomery鈥檚 request to boost his office鈥檚 fleet budget to $97,000 next year from $3,500 this year. He said he鈥檇 heard that some of the money was meant for golf carts.
And he didn鈥檛 understand why: Much of the sheriff鈥檚 business occurs at two downtown courthouses that sit across the street from each other, and a jail that sits just south of them. The office has SUVs and vans to drive elsewhere.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 mean to be dense,鈥 Devoti said Tuesday at the budget hearing, 鈥渂ut why would a golf cart be necessary to cross Market Street?鈥
Blake Lawrence, a top aide to Montgomery, said deputies have responsibilities at the juvenile courts building on Vandeventer Avenue a few miles west, at hospitals where detainees go for treatment, and elsewhere downtown.
鈥淭he Sheriff鈥檚 department, like many departments, is a logistically intensive department,鈥 Lawrence said.
Devoti pressed on: Wouldn鈥檛 those runs, he asked, be handled with the office鈥檚 other vehicles?
鈥淚鈥檓 assuming that no one is driving a golf cart from the central downtown district to Vandeventer, right?鈥 said Devoti, an attorney by trade. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to Midtown in a golf cart?鈥
At that point, Tyshon Sykes, a chief deputy in the sheriff鈥檚 office, said the carts would mostly help with the office鈥檚 presence elsewhere downtown, where deputies help provide security on Washington Avenue during the summer months.
Devoti said that didn鈥檛 make much sense, either.
In 果酱视频, the sheriff鈥檚 main job is providing courthouse security, transporting prisoners and serving legal papers. It does not run the jail, nor does it perform general law enforcement.
鈥淚鈥檓 having a hard time wrapping my mind around why the sheriff鈥檚 office is doing these kinds of things beyond that,鈥 Devoti said.
Neither Lawrence nor Montgomery could be reached for further comment.
It was only the latest turn in Montgomery鈥檚 nascent tenure. Since taking office in January, he has made headlines for having a top jail official arrested, telling a deputy to roll golden dice for his job and having a .
