County commissioners and union representatives have approved a combined deputy/dispatcher position within the Rock County Sheriff’s Office.
The move may save the department as much as $25,000 in annual costs.
Last month, County Administrator Kyle Oldre brought the hybrid proposal to the county’s personnel committee when a current part-time deputy applied and was the best candidate for a full-time dispatcher opening.
“We discussed having this deputy — instead of taking a full-time dispatch job — become a hybrid,” Oldre said.
Deputy Lee Christians was open to filling both positions as a full-time county employee.
“The main reason I was open was because I would stay working here,” he said in an interview last week.
For the past four years, Christians was a part-time deputy in Rock County as he worked the family farm with his parents, Ron and Ava Christians, of rural Kenneth.
Prior to returning home, the 2001 graduate of Southwest Christian High School in Edgerton was a peace officer in Sioux Falls.
Christians and his wife, Dawn, and their two young children currently live near Leota.
The County Board approved the idea of a deputy/dispatcher position Feb. 16 and recently received approval from union representatives earlier this month.
Christians is already in his new position and has begun dispatcher certification training.
The hybrid position becomes a possible tool to keep part-time deputies on the force.
The sheriff’s department has hired 14 part-time deputies during the past nine years. The part-time deputies, including last year’s hiring of Kyle Watkins, leave the department when full-time positions open elsewhere.
Sheriff Evan Verbrugge estimated Christians’ schedule would be 75 percent deputy and 25 percent dispatcher.
The flexibility would aid other employees in both positions with their own schedules.
“It helps other officers in their ability and, dispatchers in their ability, to take time off without having their vacations denied,” Oldre said.
Christians would assist in covering open shifts created by vacations, sick leaves and officer trainings, as well as help lower the department’s annual overtime costs.
His yearly salary plus benefits was approved at $59,327.
Success of the department’s hybrid position may be duplicated in other county departments.
Commissioner Ron Boyenga said, “This may set the stage for future hires as a model.”