Sheriff Randy Retter needs six more jail deputies, and he presented Wayne County Council with a creative approach to filling those positions.
During council’s Feb. 6 meeting, Retter explained that hiring trained jail deputies is difficult. Deputies are usually promoted from civilian corrections officers trained by jail staff.
With that in mind, Retter proposed hiring additional civilian corrections officers to help complement jail staffing, then filling open deputy positions when corrections officers are ready for promotion.
“I think this addresses the current staffing challenges in a fiscally responsible manner,” Retter said.
The 2025 budget includes 25 jail deputy positions at salaries of $50,251 and 17 corrections officer positions at salaries of $47,415. In addition to the six deputy openings, Retter said three corrections officer positions are vacant.
Because hiring corrections officers is more likely, Retter hopes to fill those three openings, then add an additional five corrections officers, who will be paid by line items for vacant deputy positions, never exceeding the 42 budgeted positions. This way, the jail staffing would be more complete, and deputy positions would eventually be filled by promoted corrections officers.
Council took Retter’s proposal under advisement for future action.
IV-D court
Austin Shadle, the commissioner of the county’s IV-D court for children’s issues, such as establishing paternity and assigning child support, raised a funding question to council.
Incentive funds with the court, prosecutor’s office and clerk’s office are earmarked for the court; however, using county general fund money enables the court to receive a two-thirds reimbursement. The three incentive fund balances total $566,021.58.
Shadle said the court’s preference is to enable Lonnie McClintock, the IV-D deputy prosecutor, to use incentive funds creatively to make the court more effective and efficient. He said reinvestment, essentially, is the purpose of the incentive funds that are state funded based on the court’s successes.
Council elected to have further discussions with the offices involved in IV-D activities to gather more information before making any decision.
Health board members
Dan Burk, the executive director of the Wayne County Health Department, received council permission to add $3,352 to the pay pool for Board of Health members.
Burk said that the Health First Indiana funding has him occupying more time of the seven board members. Burk said he would absorb the cost within his existing budget.
Last year, board chair Paul Rider received $1,312.50, while the other positions were paid $1,125.
Burk also received council approval to pursue a $25,000 Public Health Emergency Preparedness grant. He plans to spend $20,000 on training and $5,000 on supplies.
Other actions
- The county’s court-appointed special advocates received council permission to hire a part-time volunteer coordinator. The position would pay $19.17 per hour for an annual salary of $28,908.36. CASA has the money to pay for the position.
- Council unanimously approved the four-year county investment policy. Treasurer Beth Fields said the policy is unchanged because of the investment success of Nancy Funk, the former treasurer.
A version of this article appeared in the February 12 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.