FARMINGTON – Commissioners unanimously approved Tuesday a request to use nearly $700 from the forfeiture account to retrofit an M-16 assault rifle to make it easier for deputies to use and optimize its performance.

The panel also signed a three-year union contract with the Franklin Sheriff’s Department Teamsters Local 340 bargaining unit that covers road deputies, dispatchers and corrections officers. One year of the contract has already expired with the remainder running through Dec. 31, 2009.

Deputy Ken Charles and Sgt. Steve Lowell presented the department’s request to modify one of the six M-16 rifles issued to it through the federal government in 2004 with a shorter barrel and a holographic sight.

The M-16 is a rifle about 42 inches long. The length of it retrofitted to an M-4 style would be 34 inches long with a shorter barrel and stock would be collapsible to make it even smaller.

Charles outlined one case that a modified M-16 rifle would have been more useful and more effective.

Deputies responded to a domestic disturbance where a man threatened his wife with a rifle. After the woman and her child were able to leave and premises secured, a decision was made to enter the residence.

Deputies had left their vehicles parked about a quarter-mile down the road and had to carry their M-16s with them, just in case, when they went to search the residence for the suspect.

The long rifles became unwieldy in narrow confines of the smaller-style home jeopardizing agility and safety, Charles said.

Police had to switch to handguns but still carry their rifles.

Charles said they would like to eventually modify all six of the M-16s but wanted to try one at first to see how it works.

They also want to add an holographic sight to the rifle to promote quick and accurate target acquisition, which is effective in low-light and no-light situations.

The total cost for the equipment for one rifle is about $700 and would come out of the $3,707 in the forfeiture account.

Commissioners declined to release the financial details of the union contract agreement with the Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday until the union signs the agreement.

After the meeting, Kenneth Eaton, business agent for Teamsters Local 340, said the bargaining unit had ratified the contract and “signed a three-year deal,” but he didn’t have the agreement with him on the road Tuesday to quote details. He would do so Wednesday when he was back in his office, he said.

However, Eaton did say it is “progressive and moves our members forward.”

Commissioners’ attorney Frank Underkuffler said technically the physical document is not a contract until both sides sign it. He said he hadn’t received a signed copy of it, and it was up to the union whether to release the information prior to it being signed.

Commissioners also accepted the lowest bid for three 2008 cruisers from Quirk in Augusta. With trade-ins the price came to about $30,812 for an Expedition, Explorer and a Crown Victoria.

The panel also approved Chief Deputy Ray Meldrum’s request to try to sell no-longer-used Sheriff’s Department cruisers by bid for the minimum price of their trade-in value. It would save taxpayers money, he said. If the vehicles don’t sell within two weeks they would be traded in as part of the purchase package of new cruisers.