W hen it comes to screws, I am – what’s the word I’m looking for? – oh, yeah, stumped.

I have no one to blame but myself for that.

Over the years, I had accumulated a sizeable amount of screws intended for all sorts of purposes.

Three months ago, I began moving all of my workshop stuff into a new workshop/carport, and I was determined to make the most of the space by consolidating some of the items.

Until then, my collection of screws were mainly kept in their original packaging and stored in a large cardboard box. It was not the most efficient storage plan since some packages contained only a few screws while others were full. There was too much packaging.

So what I did was remove all the screws from their packaging and dump them all into a large metal bin, which certainly cut down on the clutter.

That was a mistake. Now, I have to scavenge through the bin to find matching screws and, more importantly, screw heads. When I was a kid, there were just two kinds of screw heads – the flathead screw and the Phillips head screw. Over the years, though, new “improvements” in screw head technology have created many more screwheads — square, hexagon and star shapes becoming common.

So, I figure I have five different types of screw heads in my screw bin. And, when you consider that each type comes in a half-dozen sizes or more, finding screws of the right type and size for my power drill or screwdriver set is a needless hassle, especially as I age and my eyesight diminishes.

Dumping all the screws into one bin was quick and easy — it took only a matter of minutes.

But now, I spend half my time fishing through the bin trying to find a few screws that match.

Moral of the story: What’s easy is not always what’s best.

That’s something Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin and the city council should keep in mind as they ponder the mayor’s suggestion to make Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins the interim Columbus Police chief, replacing Fred Shelton, who turned in his retirement papers on Monday during a special call meeting of the city council. Shelton’s retirement goes into effect on August 15.

Hawkins, who appears to be agreeable to the idea, said it shouldn’t be too much of a burden on him since the city has 30 days to find a new chief before Shelton’s departure.

This may be the most optimistic timeline in recorded history, given what we know of the city’s recent department-head level hires. It took the city six months to hire James Brigham to replace Deliah Vaughn as the city’s CFO and eight months to replace COO David Armstrong with Jammie Garrett. The mayor’s vow to conduct a national search for a chief is likely to stretch the timeline, too.

But the biggest obstacle may be finding someone willing to assume leadership of a department that has seen four chiefs in 10 years and is a department that has been chronically understaffed and underpaid for most of the decade.

Until the city addresses those issues in the budget process by committing to big raises — probably 50 percent or more across the board — to make the CPD competitive. CPD has always had more budgeted positions than it can fill. Low pay has to be a factor.

But the evidence of a real commitment to improving pay won’t be known until mid-September when the city approves its FY 2023 budget.

It’s likely many top candidates will prefer to wait and see if the city makes good on that commitment.

All this to say that the interim chief position may be needed for months and months.

Asking Hawkins to fill that role indefinitely is like dumping all your screws into one bin. It’s an easy, quick fix. It’s also a fix that all parties may grow to regret.

Like screws, the sheriff’s department and the police department perform the same basic functions. But also like screws, there are enough differences between them to create a logistical nightmare. Schedules, overtime, policies/procedures, priorities and discipline are different. It’s simply too much of an ask of anyone for any extended period of time.

The city would be wise to avoid this quick and easy fix.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected]

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected]

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