Hughes Honored At Last Sartell Council Meeting As Chief

(KNSI) – Monday night was the last Sartell City Council meeting where Jim Hughes will attend as the police chief.

He has been with the force since 1991 and notes he has probably done the background check or helped to hire just about every person in the department today. Hughes says the toughest thing about retirement will be not seeing those men and women every day. Hughes says the part of the job that is easier to walk away from is what happens outside of the walls of the Public Safety Facility.

“I live in the community. So, I hear the sirens and I hear everything that goes on even on my off time. The easier part for me is, even though I’m still going to worry about them, I don’t have to be worried about whatever is happening becoming something I have to deal with at a later time. That’s going to be someone else’s responsibility, so it’ll ease my after hours tension a little bit.”

During Hughes’ tenure with the SPD, the number of personnel has jumped from six to 22. Hughes says the department is a bit understaffed given the size of the city but it still manages to respond to calls while being active in the community.

“Even now, we run 24/7/365 with 22 people. Twelve of those are the actual patrol officers that respond to calls for service. It’s pretty impressive that we’re able to do what we do with our outreach programs and response for calls for service and investigations with the limited staff that we actually have in the department.”

Hughes’ last day is officially March 31st. Deputy Chief Wayne Schreiner has been named interim head until Brandon Silgjord takes over in May or June.

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