Back on the September 10th County Board Of Supervisors meeting, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott was told to bring a budgeting plan back to the board in 14 days that would detail the Sheriff’s Office staffing changes. During the County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Sheriff Scott showed this plan to the Board.
Sheriff Scott gave a PowerPoint presentation that listed off some of the issues the Sheriff’s Office is having when it comes to hiring and retaining, highlighting the hiring process when it comes to getting Deputies, taking months to get someone to the academy and out onto the streets. Sheriff Scott also noted that most people drop out along this process, with only two participants who graduated last time.
The presentation then turned to the Sheriff’s Office budget, comparing how Deputy and Patrol Sgt. positions pay in contrast to other nearby counties. Using examples from Humboldt, Mendocino, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Glenn counties, Del Norte fell short below the average. Del Norte’s Deputy Step A position starts at $26.61, while most other Counties average around $31.72. Sheriff Scott then pointed to the 11 vacancies currently in the Sheriff’s Office, with his proposal to the Board having 3 of the Deputy positions frozen.
“This idea that I came up with, is something that another Sheriff’s Office has done,” Sheriff Scott said. “So Lake County has already done this, very successful. I talked with them last week and I think they are 1 or 2 deputies down, and they are almost fully staffed.”
This proposed reclassification also gives Deputy Step A positions a starting wage of around $30.81 and Patrol Sgt. Step A positions around $40.30. With the 3 empty positions frozen, the Sheriff’s Office saves roughly $38,425. Sheriff Scott further explained that if the positions were to be eliminated, it would save the county around $115,542.
Scott also presents the stats for Del Norte’s Jail and Court budget, with Del Norte again falling behind on the average wages compared to other nearby Counties. Del Norte County currently starts pay for Step A Correctional Deputies around $22.72, and Correctional Sgt. Step A positions around $28.29. Compared to other Counties who pay roughly $2.24 to $3.58 more for these positions, also the Del Norte County Jail currently has 12 vacant positions on top of that. Sheriff Scott’s proposal eliminates a Correctional Tech and Correctional Officer position, while also freezing another Correctional Officer vacancy. Step A Correctional Deputies would see an increased pay to about $25.04, while Step A Correctional Sgt.’s would be at around $31.20. The County Jail would have to see an increased spending of roughly $3,540, noted in the Sheriff’s proposal.
Del Norte County Sheriff Scott ended his presentation with an opportunity for questions from the Board, Supervisor Chris Howard quickly asking why the Sheriff’s proposal had changed since their last Ad-Hoc committee meeting.
“My agreement was to wait for salary negotiations to be over with, not for a comp study. What I’m seeing is a loss of staff and a continued difficulty to hire, and down the road how long it’s gonna take us to get boots on the ground,” Sheriff Scott answered. “The needs of the public, the safety of the public, the inability to respond to major incidents, the crime rate going up, the homeless problems that we have out in front of us. Y’know I can’t offer much help to move them along, and so these kinds of things become dire.”
Afterwards, Supervisor Chris Howard also asked about positions being frozen rather than eliminated and how that would change down the road. Sheriff Scott said he’d like to not freeze anything in the first place, stating that he wants to bring positions like the drug task force and investigations unit back, but ultimately makes this offer to the County Board because the issues he sees are important and detrimental to him.
Supervisor Valerie Starkey chimed in to ask when the Sheriff’s Office has had of its vacant positions filled, arguing that these positions have been empty for so long that even just gaining 6 and freezing 3 positions is still a gain for them. Sheriff Scott explained the history of the office’s staffing issues since 2014, newer regulations slowing the hiring process, and the loss of funding from grants. Supervisor Starkey complimented the Sheriff’s outside the box thinking for his proposal, saving the county some funding and reminding the Board about their promise to the Sheriff.
“When we appointed Sheriff Scott in May of 2022, this Board sat here and said we will do everything we can to support you. We will do what we need to do within our power, I believe the time is now,” Supervisor Starkey said. “He’s brought us (the board) a presentation, he’s saying here’s what I want to do, this isn’t costing the county any additional money. What it’s doing is ensuring that he can do his job, as a Sheriff, to protect this county.”
After some discussion, Supervisor Darrin Short also pitched in that Deputy wages that were raised similarly in other counties by 36% saw them almost fully staffed and retaining way more.
“To me this seems easy. As Supervisor Starkey said, we told the Sheriff we were gonna have his back,” Supervisor Short commented. “We can see now that it’s not near enough and the Sheriff has found a way to do it again, and do our best to get police officers in the ranks. Get us staffed up to where we can have a better law enforcement community serving us. I’m hoping we can get this done.”
Ultimately after the support of several public comment speakers for the Sheriff’s office, the County Board unanimously voted 5-0 to have the proposal moved back to the CFO’s Office for evaluation before being brought back to the County Board.
