MERCER, Wis. -- John Sendra says Mercer residents are not getting adequate police protection from the Iron County Sheriff's Department.

"We're not getting the proper amount of police protection. I fear for my safety," Sendra, of Mercer, told the county board Tuesday.

Town officials have discussed hiring their own law enforcement officer.

On Wednesday, town clerk Opal Roberts, who is also on the county board, said the hiring of a law enforcement officer in Mercer was brought up at the Aug.

21 meeting of the town board. Sendra's wife, Toni Sendra, is a member of the town board.

"We haven't really gone too deep with it," Roberts said, noting a budget work session will be coming up soon. "If we wanted one (officer), we would have to find somewhere in the budget to pay for it."

She said, "Mercer is having a problem with ordinance enforcement, and we may need more of a law enforcement presence in town."

Iron County Sheriff's Department deputy Donna Tutt, who is from Mercer and a dispatcher in the department, disagrees with Sendra's claim of inadequate police protection in Mercer.

"We know where the officers are, and they are down there," Tutt said Wednesday. "They're not always in plain view."

Undersheriff Joy Kohegyi of Mercer spends about 98 percent of her working shifts in the Mercer area, according to Lt. Tony Furyk.

In July 2007, Sheriff Robert Bruneau issued a directive that road patrol deputies on the afternoon and midnight shifts are to be in the southern part of Iron County, in the Mercer-Springstead areas, for six hours of their eight-hour shifts.

"They are out there unless they're called to respond to another part of the county," Tutt said.

Since Jan. 23, 2007, the sheriff's department also has held office hours at the Haines Civic Center in Mercer from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Citing a recent break-in at a local sports shop, Sendra told the county board, "It was four hours between a crime and an appearance by a deputy."