Sheriff’s office, 911 personnel get pay raise

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CLEVELAND, Ga. — The White County Board of Commissioners averted what law enforcement officials describe as a pending “crisis” Monday by approving a $2 an hour raise for employees of the sheriff’s office, detention center and 911.

The vote followed an appeal by Sheriff Neal Walden and Chief Deputy Bob Ingram. Walden said, “We are at a point in law enforcement here in White County that is critical. If we don’t get something that I can offer someone to give them some incentive to stay here, I don’t know what you’re going to do. Service as far as law enforcement is going to go down.”

Walden said 70 percent of the current staff of 80 employees has less than four years’ experience. Once they receive training and experience, they leave for higher-paying jobs in Hall, Banks, Lumpkin and Forsyth counties, he added.

“We’re looking at officers out there that don’t have the experience some of the command staff has. We’ve got a great crew. They just don’t have the experience some of the older folks have, and the older folks are the ones that are going to walk off and leave us,” Walden added.

Ingram pointed out there are two openings for detention officers and three for patrol officers now with no applications on file. He added that three more patrol officers currently have applied for positions outside White County.

New hires must work in the jail for two years before they become eligible to work on patrol. Starting pay for detention personnel is $13.24 per hour. Patrol officers start at $15.35 an hour compared to Lumpkin County ($16.01), Gainesville ($18.31), Banks County ($18.32), Hall County ($18.56) and Forsyth County ($20.10).

The meeting room was packed for Monday’s combined work session and called meeting. Most of those in attendance worked in law enforcement. Those who could not find seats inside stood elbow-to-elbow in the lobby. After Walden and Ingram completed their remarks and it appeared no decision would be forthcoming, many of those inside walked out but remained in the lobby.

One who did remain inside was Deputy Tina Couch, a 13-year employee of the sheriff’s office. Her appeal was so poignant, the deputies who had gathered in the lobby could be heard applauding when she completed her remarks.

“We are not trying to get rich,” Couch said. “Some of us are barely making it.” She told commissioners about a medical crisis in her family and how she has had to take a job cleaning offices on the weekend to help make ends meet.

“We have good insurance, but it’s not cheap. Over $100 comes out of my paycheck every two weeks plus our deductible is $2,500. My husband needed an MRI and injections and the hospital didn’t even want to touch him. We didn’t have $2,500. We live paycheck to paycheck. If we get a $2 an hour pay raise, for me and my husband, that will be life-changing,” Couch added.

Following the meeting, commissioners went into executive session and when they emerged, they voted unanimously to approve a minimum $2 per hour pay raise effective March 1.

“We have got to do a better job of recruiting and retaining employees,” Chairman Travis Turner said. “We are seeing much more aggressive recruiting of our employees by agencies south of us and new cities are being created to the west. That has a domino effect on us.”

Turner said commissioners would conduct a county-wide compensation study in the next 90 days.

 

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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