Saying that he has sent five emails to commissioners over the past two months with no response, Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy unexpectedly announced his resignation Tuesday during the Utah County Commission meeting.
"Having no information back from the commission then, I take that also as a vote of no confidence. At this point and time, I’m also resigning as sheriff effective Aug. 1,” he told the commission at Tuesday's meeting, KSL reports.
In addition, to close a budget deficit between $800,000 to $1 million that Tracy said the jail is now being sent to collections for, he told commissioners that he has no choice but to close two pods at the jail — reducing the jail by 128 beds — and releasing inmates into the community. According to a recording of the meeting, Tracy said he will also be forced to order layoffs.
"We have hundreds of thousands of dollars currently owed that we have no money in that fund for,” he told commissioners. "At this point and time, I’m taking that as an indication that I need to solve this issue within my existing budget. Looking at the budget, the only way I can do that is to recommend that we have reduction in force by 15 to 20 slots, take that money and move it over to the medical so we can pay our bills," he said.
