John Wisley reports in the Free Press that Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano wants to hire a retired sheriff's deputy on a no-bid contract to serve as his bodyguard, whose responsibilities also would include driving him to appointments, delivering packages and changing the oil, filling up the gas tank and washing the executive's county-provided car.
Fred Berry of Dearborn already collects a $105,000 annual county pension from his years with the sheriff's office. The proposed contract would pay him an additional $55,000 a year.
Ficano currently has two other employees who serve as his drivers and provide protection, so Berry would fill in when needed, his office said.
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson uses the county's field claims investigators when he needs a security guard or driver, said spokesman Bill Mullan. Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel has no drivers or bodyguards, but receives a county-provided car.
