Yuba County sheriff to address staffing shortage

Yuba County’s sheriff received the go-ahead Tuesday to adjust compensation levels to combat what he says is a staffing crisis.

Sheriff Steven Durfor asked Yuba County supervisors to allow his department to make a series of immediate changes to help bolster staffing levels.

Durfor said current staffing makes it increasingly difficult to ensure a high level of public safety. He said a few particular changes to how the department operates could drastically benefit its ability to recruit and retain employees.

“We feel this is going to serve us very well in really elevating our staffing levels and addressing some of the retention challenges that we’ve had,” Durfor said.

Durfor said there are two areas of concern – the number of patrolling deputy sheriffs and the number of dispatcher positions – and both need to be addressed.

The department has 53 deputy sheriff positions, but 10 are vacant (three of those are unfunded). Of 45 deputies

currently employed, only 22 are assigned patrol duties. Of the others, Durfor said four are out with long-term injuries, four positions are assigned to assist detectives and two are assigned to marine enforcement.

During the past few years, 17 deputies left Yuba County, with 10 of those departing for other agencies, Durfor said. In addition to losing deputies to other agencies offering higher pay, he said there was a wave of retirements last year.

In dispatching, the sheriff’s office has 12 positions with three vacant. Of the nine working dispatchers, Durfor said two have indicated that they are interested in seeking employment elsewhere.

Durfor said staff members leave for other agencies because they can get higher pay with “less of a grind.”

He proposed changes that he said will help make the department more attractive to potential recruits, as well as prevent current employees from leaving for other law enforcement agencies.

“We certainly cannot stand by and continue to hope things will get better without bringing these strategies forward and giving it our all,” Durfor said.

One change will be with the salary schedule for deputies.

The first two steps on the salary schedule will be removed, making step three the base pay – $4,934 per month – for new employees, while also raising the two highest steps.

Under the current contract, deputies are due to receive an 8 percent pay raise over the next few years. Durfor proposed to expedite the pay raise and instead provide it up front in one payment. Combined with a 2 percent raise from salary schedule changes, deputy sheriffs stand to receive a 10 percent raise on July 1 – the start of fiscal year 2017-18.

Also, Durfor proposed that the department modify its dispatcher positions. The department has two salary steps for dispatchers – communication dispatcher 1 and 2. Moving forward, the department will no longer have two different positions, rather one public safety dispatcher classification that makes a base monthly salary of $3,861, which is what the previous communication dispatcher 2 made.

There is not expected to be much of a fiscal impact because many of the current dispatchers are already qualified to make the base monthly salary.

Other changes include increasing incentive pay for resident deputies in the foothills, increases in pay for reserve deputies, allowing new hires access to vacation leave immediately, adding another record clerk and developing a marketing plan to assist in recruiting efforts.

Durfor said four of the available deputy sheriff positions will essentially be unfunded for the time being, and the money budgeted for those positions will be used to offset the costs for the proposed measures. General fund revenues will be applied to the changes set to take effect in the remaining fiscal year.

“There may be a minimal impact to the general fund, but the vast majority of fiscal impacts will be covered by funding from the un-funded four deputy sheriff positions already in our budgets,” Durfor said.

Supervisor Gary Bradford said he agreed with Durfor that the changes are necessary at the moment.

“I’m glad we have something that will hopefully help us address the issues we are facing in getting more deputies patrolling the streets and more dispatchers in the office,” Bradford said.

Supervisor Randy Fletcher said the measures Durfor laid out are the first steps in resolving many of the problems the sheriff’s department and areas of Yuba County have experienced since staffing levels were reduced during the economic downturn.

“I think our reputation is spotless throughout the state, which leads to us losing our best personnel, so hopefully this alleviates some of that,” Fletcher said. Main number....................

EDITOR

Steve Miller.......................

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Andrew Cummins.............

REPORTERS

Jake Abbott....................... Patrick Groves................... Josh Gutierrez................... Chris Kaufman.................. Rachel Rosenbaum........... Kayla Webster...................

COMMUNITY

Leticia Gutierrez...............

SPORTS

Andy Arrenquin................. Sports scores.....................

PHOTOS

Chris Kaufman, Editor.......

COPY DESK

Josh Kendrix..................... Harold Kruger....................

NEWSROOM FAX NEWSROOM EMAIL

Accounts Receivable......... Classified Fax.................... Accounts Receivable......... Display Fax....................... Toll Free.................