McDonald County’s new sheriff is costing the county a lot of money because he has decided to hire his own deputies. Incoming sheriff Don Schlessman has fired nine deputies who’ve been working under sheriff Robert Evenson. Now the deputies have sent the county a bill for unused compensatory time, holiday time, and vacation time. It totals more than $35,000. Evenson has told the Joplin Globe he has asked the county for two years to set up a fund to pay off excessive comp time his officers have accrued, but the county has refused to do it.
