How to resolve AdBlock issue? Sgt. John Drewrey, president of the Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, and the group’s treasurer, Det. Richard Kreutzer, went before the board on Tuesday morning to speak to the sheriff’s office’s worsening staffing issues, which are in turn impacting public safety.
Kreutzer said that the sheriff’s office has 172 personnel allocated in its budget, but 52 of those jobs are vacant. Six deputies are filling positions at the Hill Road Correctional Facility, which has 20 vacancies out of 55 total jobs.
“This means that our shifts are running with three deputies and one sergeant, sometimes less than that,” he said.
The sheriff’s office has 40 patrol positions, which breaks down as eight sergeants and 32 funded deputy sheriff’s jobs. However, Kreutzer said that they now are working with only four sergeants and 11 deputies, not counting the six deputies working in the jail. As such, he said patrol is running at 37 percent of its allocated staffing.
“These numbers are not a worst case scenario, they are the present reality,” said Kreutzer, explaining that, “As correctional officers and deputies continue to leave for better pay and benefits, our ability to provide services to the community also drops.”
That’s of greater concern when considering how many wildland fires the county has dealt with in recent years. Kreutzer asked what would happen if the sheriff’s office continues to lose staff, and who will respond to future disasters.
“The issue of wages is always the elephant in the room, and whenever it is broached during negotiations, we hear the same response – the county cannot address any fiscal concerns,” Kreutzer said.
He said that it has been suggested that benefits and costs in Lake County are comparable to adjacent and similarly sized counties. While that may be true, he said what isn’t comparable is the amount that neighboring counties contribute overall to benefits.
Kreutzer then went over the contributions of nearby counties to health benefits, including Colusa, which pays $1,420 per month; Napa, which pays up to $1,737.80 per month; and Mendocino, which pays up to $2,153.74 per month.
Lake pays $1,000 per month, after recently adding $200. However, he said that addition came late and is now having to be appealed through the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
Kreutzer said the board needs to prioritize the sheriff’s office staffing and find a fiscally responsible way to augment benefits for deputies.
Drewrey told the board that while staffing already is down, it could go down even more as several deputies have conditional job offers elsewhere or have – like him – applied to other local agencies. He said those who are leaving have pointed to the high costs of benefit.
He also pointed out the loss to the county, noting one deputy who has a conditional offer with another local agency has 12 years of experience and more than 1,700 hours of training that he’ll take elsewhere.
Supervisor Jeff Smith explained that, for a single person, the county’s $1,000 health benefits contribution mean that the employee doesn’t pay anything. However, if they add one person, it’s $700 per month, and can range up to $1,200 a month out of pocket if more family members are added.
“It’s substantial, the cut out of a take home paycheck,” said Supervisor Rob Brown, noting the insurance is hitting them so hard.
Drewrey said an alternate 80/20 cost-sharing plan that he’s explored would lower the family cost to $443, cost the single person $163 per month and would only cost the county $1,315 more a month overall for Deputy Sheriff’s Association employees.
Sheriff Brian Martin thanked the board for hearing the matter, noting it was a good time for the Deputy Sheriff’s Association to address the board as a group, which they can’t always do during negotiations.
Martin said his constituents call him about their concerns. “People don’t want to hear excuses, they just want services.”
He said he stood with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association to ask the board to make staffing a priority.
Martin said some decisions do need to be made. “We all want to do our job.”
Correctional Officer Jeremy Wichlaz, who has worked for the county in the jail since 1997, recalled that when he began there were as many as 130 inmates in the jail. Since then, capacity has doubled, but staffing hasn’t changed.
He said the county jail now houses inmates that should be in state prisons, making the job more dangerous for correctional officers.
“It’s Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid at this point,” Wichlaz said, adding that roughly one-third of the county’s correctional officers are looking to go to other agencies.
Deputy Nathaniel Newton told the board he’s also looking elsewhere because of the cost of benefits for his growing family. He said he had hoped to live, work and retire in Lake County.
Board members acknowledged the county’s struggles and said they are working to bring more money into the county.
“We do hear you loud and clear,” said Supervisor Moke Simon, adding that sheriff’s staffing is a priority for the board.
“We’ve always really tried to support law enforcement,” said Smith.
He said it’s time to do something out of the box, and suggested that maybe the 80/20 split suggested by Drewrey might be an option.
Later in the meeting, the board approved a memorandum of understanding with the Lake County Sheriff Management Association for the period from Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2019.
The agreement is similar to agreements the county has with other labor groups, said County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson.
Huchingson said the agreement includes no salary increases because of lack of funds, but gives two days of personal work leave, $1,000 per month per employee contribution to health benefits and a 2.5 percent increase above base salary due to educational degrees.
She said the agreement also allows for straight time overtime for management during board-declared emergencies, as was introduced a few months ago with other employee units. The overtime allowance is capped at 40 hours.
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