Hybrid position cut for full-time deputy

Rock County Commissioners approved changing positions within the sheriff’s office after recent resignations affected the current patrol schedules.
Earlier this year county officials developed and approved a hybrid position within the sheriff’s department.
Lee Christians, who had been a part-time deputy, became full-time by filling that hybrid position as a part-time deputy and part-time dispatcher.
At their July 19 meeting commissioners accepted Sheriff Evan Verbrugge’s request to replace the hybrid position with a full-time deputy.
Verbrugge cited issues of balancing the hours between the two positions and tracking the different pay schedules based on hours worked at each job.
“Most of the time he (Christians) has been a deputy,” he said.
With the recent resignation of deputy Mike DeJong, who accepted a position with Jackson County, Christians will move to the full-time deputy position.
With the commissioners’ approval, Christian’s former position will be posted as a full-time deputy opening. Filling this position would occur in-house before the position is advertised.
Commissioners also approved additional funding for the full-time deputy position, because the hybrid position shared equipment with other deputies.
Leasing a new squad car costs $6,000 per year, equipment costs $3,500 to $5,000, and the additional salary costs $10,000 to $15,000.
Verbrugge said the part-time deputy position won’t be filled (for a savings of $10,000) until after the county sets next year’s budget.
In next year’s budget Verbrugge requested two additional full-time deputies. He is also advocating not joining the Buffalo Ridge Task Force at this time.
“There is more value in putting on more line officers,” he said.
In the past year the sheriff’s office spent $118,000 in overtime with one officer logging more than 400 hours of overtime, Verbrugge said.
He cited the lack of quality family time and sufficient rest for officers as additional reasons why two new officers are needed for the patrol schedule. The officers are also seen as solutions to reducing time and money spent on overtime.
The commissioners will make the final budget decision later this year.
 
In other business,
the commissioners:
•approved moving the Aug. 2 meeting to Thursday, Aug. 4. The meeting will start at 9 a.m.
•learned The Nature Conservancy will acquire an additional 5.18 acres for Touch the Sky Prairie. The area would be open for hunting, wildlife observation and photography, environmental education and interpretation.
The county would receive annual payments in lieu of taxes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.