The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting held on Tuesday, September 10th, started with an air of joy. At the beginning of the meeting, after standard opening procedures, the Board honored Mike Peeples for his 25 years of service as a County Employee. District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson read out the resolution:

“Mike began his career with Del Norte County on February 2, 1999, when he was appointed as a Correctional Officer Recruit by the Sheriff’s Office. His dedication and commitment were evident early on as he took on the roles of Deputy Sheriff I and Correctional Clerk before making a career transition to the Community Development Department on June 26, 2001, as an Engineering Technician Trainee[.]”

Supervisor Wilson also spoke to Mike’s character as an employee, and as a man by the amount of people packing the Board chambers in his honor. Following the resolution was a standing ovation in the Board Chambers after Peeples was given a certificate of the County’s gratitude to him.

The Board moved on to the subject of the Deputy Directors classifications inside of the pay and benefits structure of County departments. The Deputy Directors made their opposition to the resolution that would affect them well known. They took particular umbrage with the fact that they were not consulted on the resolution and would furthermore request to put forth their own resolution to the Board as opposed to pass the resolution put before the Board at this meeting.

Following this, Randy Hooper was brought forward to shed some light on this resolution, where he was subsequently dressed down by District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey for apparently not telling the truth on their last Board Report about this matter.

“On August 8th 2023, the Board Report said that the Assistant/Deputy Department Head group reviewed the classification descriptions and have no concerns at this time,” Starkey said. “So we made our decision based on the fact we were told we had buy-in from that bargaining group.”

Amongst her several reasons why she was uncomfortable passing the resolution reclassifying the positions was the unfairness of the vote, continuing, “There is 11 Assistants, there is 5 Deputy Directors. That is unfair to say they are gonna have this up for a vote on what needs to happen. The better idea would have been to have a discussion where everybody sat around the table, if you were not able to reach a consensus, then bring that to the Board for us to be able to make a decision […] That vote was completely unfair.”

Following deliberation on the matter, a motion to table the resolution until a compensation analysis arrives was declined with Supervisor Starkey and Supervisor Short dissenting.

After their discussion, Supervisor Short brought up a question about the Sheriff’s office and a proposal brought forward by Sheriff Garrett Scott to an ad hoc Committee about the restructuring of his department that had never moved forward.

Supervisor Starkey—who was part of the ad hoc committee along with Chair Dean Wilson—stated that, “We met once where it was very clear that we weren’t going to get anywhere. And so I think that we just stopped having those meetings at that point.”

When questioned further by Supervisor Short, Supervisor Starkey pushed the question over to Chair Dean Wilson.

Wilson answered that the Board had actually taken steps adjusting the Sheriff’s ability to hire and all recommendations/requests made by Sheriff Garrett Scott are still being looked at for the future. Wilson also noted that the County and Sheriff’s office are trying to find a middle ground with both the groups’ wants and needs fulfilled, specifying that they are waiting for a comp study which will help paint the picture of how many changes need to be taken.

Sheriff Garrett Scott came up to the stand to add that his proposals given to the ad hoc committee were presented in different forms to the budget team. Sheriff Scott further emphasized the dire need for more staff in his department and how there are several options in elevating the issue, pushing heavily for action to be taken as soon as possible rather than wait for the comp study to be complete in 5-6 months.

Supervisor Howard joined in on the conversation, clarifying that the wait is so the budget team, Sheriff’s office, and the County Board of Supervisors act in a responsible manner with the very few dollars in the current fund. Also noting that the current plan was agreed upon by Sheriff Scott.

Supervisor Short quickly interjected saying that sounded entirely different from what the Sheriff was saying, Sheriff Scott added that, “We don’t have deputies on the street and if we continue to push the pay issues down the road 5-6 months, and it takes me another year to hire, the community continues to suffer. That is the problem I have.”

Supervisor Howard questioned if the hiring and staffing issues at the Sheriff’s Office were actually due to wages, further claiming that the Del Norte’s Sheriff’s department had increased deputy wages for the last 3-4 years, and that it was the highest paying in the region compared to the Tribes and Brookings.

Sheriff Scott quickly shot the notion down, saying that this issue is moving so quickly that everyone is having a problem with it and that he cannot match the pay compared to other areas.

At the end of their discussion, Chair Dean Wilson gave an open invite and welcome for Sheriff Scott to bring his proposal back to the Board in 14 days.