Letter: Sheriff Felici is a proven county leader

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Editor,

I have worked for the Island County Sheriff’s Office for 38 years and during those years I have worked for six different sheriffs and many forms of administration. My family had the sawmill at the end of Penn Cove (the lagoons and pilings). I believe in our community and recently retired from Oak Harbor Fire Department and also currently work as an EMT.

I have seen a lot of changes in Emergency Services and both the attitude of law enforcement and the public’s attitude towards law enforcement over those years. Often elections bring turmoil into an organization as different members support different candidates all with the belief that their candidate will improve the current conditions or possibly promote them if elected. This election I have seen a unification of the staff across the agency as they support the current Sheriff.

Every year I worked with the administration with the hope that the Sheriff’s Office would be better than the year before. My focus was on training and teamwork that created an organization that wanted the best for it’s community.

I believe the organization you currently have is the best that it has ever been and has been created with the hard work of those that came before us. You have a team that loves where they work, who they work with and who they work for. I haven’t seen it at this level before, and it makes it very hard to retire and leave such a wonderful organization that provides an outstanding service for its community even with the lack of funding.

Over the last several years the complaints against deputies have almost become non-existent and deputies are able to resolve many confrontational calls with their learned verbal skills.

The sheriff’s employees are not allowed to talk politics while on duty, but if you see one of them ask them if they are happy where they work.

Sheriff Rick Felici continues to work for our community and his employees. Having lived through several campaigns and the turmoil it causes, I don’t believe it is time to shake up an organization that is running well.

Chris Garden

Oak Harbor