The Clinton County Board of Commissioners approved a motion 3 to 0 to greenlight the sale of K9 Tiko to Deputy Melissa Trump during the Nov. 19 meeting with plans to acquire a new K9 partner for Deputy Prestin Hillman.
Following a recent Clinton County Sheriff Merit Board decision to suspend Trump for 30 working days, the Commissioners moved to approve the retirement of her former K9 partner, Tiko, on her request. Once Trump came under investigation in March for her alleged involvement with her son and his girlfriend consuming alcohol underage, Trump was suspended from her position, which resulted in the removal and reassignment of K9 Tiko to another handler. As the investigation was ongoing and the hearing date approached that would determine whether the Sheriff’s recommendation of “termination” for Trump would be approved, she launched a petition and a plea to have K9 Tiko retired into her care, offering to purchase the K9.
During the meeting, Sheriff Rich Kelly approached the Commissioners to request extra time to let the attorneys converse to solidify a transition of the K9 into Trump’s care. The Commissioners and Kelly reached an agreement that the attorneys would work out the details of the sale of the asset, K9 Tiko, to Trump, and if the terms could not be established, the case would be considered a null deal.
During the meeting, Commissioner Josh Uitts asked K9 Tiko’s current handler, Deputy Hillman, if the retirement of K9 Tiko was permissible to him, which Hillman stated was acceptable.
Commissioner President Jordan Brewer delivered a background during the meeting regarding the situation, stating that through conversations with the parties involved, the Commissioners came to a decision that the sale of the K9 to Trump would allow for a new K9 to enter the department and remain active for a presumed longer period of time.
“I had conversation with the Sheriff, I had conversations with Prestin as well as some of the people around it in the department and, ultimately, as I said last time, at least how I evaluated it, and I think the Board collectively would look at it this way, is it is an animal, but at the end of the day, we gotta look at it as an asset,” Brewer said in the meeting. “Similar to a vehicle, it’s never gonna be apples to apples comparison, for Tiko, who maybe has two to four years of life left, if we are able to retire him and bring in a new asset for Deputy Hillman to work with that has an expectancy of six to 10 years, and we’re going to get the cost covered of the new dog, this is a better decision long-term for the county as well as for the department.”
With the approval of the motion, the Commissioners and Clinton County Council are planning to prepare a financial strategy to acquire a new K9 partner for Deputy Hillman, including the purchase of the dog and possible training for in-house operations, such as drug detection within the jail, and on-duty operations during investigations, traffic stops and more. With the approval of the motion, the Commissioners agreed that K9 Tiko will not be retained in any capacity within the department.
The price that K9 Tiko is expected to be sold for to Trump was not solidified during the meeting as the attorneys representing the parties needed to collaborate to reach an agreement.
Background of the Case:
Deputy Trump Faces 30-Day Unpaid Suspension Following Clinton County Merit Board Ruling
