CLEARFIELD – Personnel issues at the county jail topped Tuesday’s Clearfield County Salary Board meeting.
First, the commissioners requested the salary of deputy warden/operations be set at $42,000/year, which was approved.
Secondly, Commissioner Dave Glass requested salary increases for two deputy warden positions.
More specifically, he requested a $7,000/year salary increase for both the deputy warden/programs and deputy warden/operations.
There have been ongoing discussions of adding a lieutenant position to the jail’s administration, Glass said.
“You can’t have a lieutenant who comes in at the same salary as a deputy warden.”
The commissioners – at Prison Board – had also made a commitment to Susan McQuillen, deputy warden/programs.
“We said we would at least discuss an increase of salary in order to retain her,” Glass said. “This keeps that promise.”
He also believed it was warranted given the current prisoner-to-guard ratio that’s been left under three administrators.
Warden David Kessling agreed, noting the jail has gone through seven deputy wardens in two years.
“The vast reasons for that are the pay and amount of work they do,” he said, “and as a warden, I want consistency and supervision.
“When you have that kind of turnover, it’s extremely hard, and supervision has been lacking at the jail for years.”
Kessling said the jail previously had a lieutenant but for whatever reason that position was eliminated.
Commissioner John Sobel said he wasn’t prepared to create a lieutenant/training officer position, which was Glass’ next request.
He went onto explain that the county is also considering proposals to enhance prisoner mental health services.
“One of the proposals would involve the creation of another position,” Sobel said.
“It just seems that every month someone proposes an increase of salary or creation of another position at the jail.
“Let’s not put the cart before the horse. We don’t even have a new warden hired and have other staffing problems.”
He suggested the county focus on those “housekeeping duties” and revisit consideration of the lieutenant position at a later date.
Following discussion, the board approved Glass’ request to raise the salaries by $7,000/year for the two deputy warden positions.
And, though Glass understood Sobel’s point, he said the jail’s current three-person administration wasn’t sufficient.
“No matter what we do, we’ll have turnover issues because we can’t compete with some places.
“So having on-site training is going to be really important … and we’ve been consistently underbudget at the jail.
“It’s not like the warden has gone overbudget and is now coming to us asking for more.”
Controller Rob Edwards projected the jail will finish the year approximately $500,000 – $600,000 underbudget.
“We can afford it,” Glass said, with Edwards suggesting the board could create the position and use it to recruit a new warden.
“That way they know they are not only going to have this other support position, but also get to help pick this person.”
Sobel again reiterated the county was getting ahead of itself, and needed to hire a new warden and grow its contingent of guards.
“I don’t argue that we’re underbudget … but just because we’re going to have a surplus doesn’t mean we have to spend it.”
Sobel said he didn’t 100 percent oppose Glass’ request but felt the timing was wrong and Commissioner Tony Scotto agreed.
Glass said jail supervision and mental health issues were two separate issues, and he didn’t see how one affected the other.
“In my mind, it’s the associated costs,” Sobel said, “and somehow, additional staffing has come up, as well.”
Glass said it would cost taxpayers “a heck of a lot more” if the county has untrained staff running the jail inefficiently.
After discussions, Sobel said he would still entertain a motion to create a position of second-shift lieutenant/training officer.
The board, however, deadlocked with Glass and Edwards in favor and Sobel and Scotto in opposition.