Politics

McDonald thanks commissioners for OK on training center

By Bill Moss, Published: April 4, 2018

Sheriff Charlie McDonald issued a statement on Wednesday thanking the Henderson County Board of Commissioners for its decision Monday night to move forward on a law enforcement training center McDonald has sought for three years.

"It has always been my intention to have an outdoor facility that would allow more training opportunities as well as an indoor force options building that would allow ongoing and realistic training for deputies responding to crisis events," he said. "Recent incidents across our nation have only served to underscore the necessity of such training. We ask these men and women to respond to incredibly complex emergencies, exercising flawless critical problem-solving skills, when in many instances we have failed to properly prepare them. As your Sheriff I have, and always will, make every effort to provide the best possible training for all my personnel and I will do so with an eye toward the future as well as the present.

"I promised the Board of Commissioners over a year ago, that if they would table the indoor project at Blue Ridge Community College for the time being, I believed we could find a better and more cost-efficient way to meet our growing training needs. I kept my promise to them, and I appreciate their commitment to both law enforcement and the citizens of Henderson County. Theirs is a difficult job."

On his campaign website, McDonald also published "Facts about the Training Center," a timeline of his efforts to get county approval of the facility.

After he took office in 2012, he identified an outdoor firing range and advanced tactical training as high priority needs. The Board of Commissioners agreed, and McDonald began looking for land. The first site he identified was a 125-acre wooded former summer camp in Green River. County commissioners unanimously rejected the site after Green River residents packed the assembly room in opposition. A second site on Pinnacle Mountain was also rejected when commissioners heard that neighboring property owners plan to oppose that purchase.

"Prior to the final budget meeting in 2016, Sheriff McDonald was told that the Commission had decided that they would not be able to locate suitable land in Henderson County to create an outdoor range and they had decided to set aside tax monies to build an indoor range area meeting all specifications of the outdoor facility," the timeline went on. "This facility would be located on, and jointly used by Blue Ridge Community College. While not his first choice, Sheriff McDonald supported their proposal as the only option available to get the necessary training his deputies needed."

In the timeline, McDonald reveals publicly for the first time that he met privately with commissioners one on one and asked them to table the BRCC location while he looked for "better options."

"When the (BRCC) proposal was made public, the sheriff was tasked with selling the idea to the public," the sheriff's account says. "There was a great deal of opposition to locating a law enforcement training facility on the grounds of Blue Ridge Community College, mainly for safety and cost concerns. The Sheriff did his best to explain the safety protocols in place and the success of numerous other facilities of this kind located on community college campuses across North Carolina. The cost issue was discussed, with the Sheriff emphasizing that it wasn’t his first choice, but that the need for realistic training for his employees outweighed his misgivings as to cost.

"In fact, Sheriff McDonald took it upon himself to meet with the Commissioners individually and ask that the $20 million-dollar law enforcement training center be placed on hold while he looked for better options. He felt, based on his years as a weapons & tactics instructor, that an outdoor facility designed properly, would be better able to meet current and future training needs, at a greatly reduced cost with minimal impact on others."

For the full account, click here.