Discussion Centers around Staffing Shortfalls and Safety
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
by Trinity Gruenberg
The Wadena County Commissioners held their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 7. Zoom was shut down approximately 30 minutes into the meeting due to another hack of a pornographic nature.
Jailer/Dispatchers Needed
The Wadena County Commissioners decided to hire two more full-time jailer/dispatchers after a long discussion about problems with staffing, overtime costs, and safety at the county jail and dispatch center.
Jail Administrator Tim Stroeing and Sheriff Mike Carr explained that many workers have left their jobs in the last two and a half years. Eight employees left for different reasons, like not being a good fit, moving away, other jobs paying more, or not passing training. With employees taking sick leave, vacation, and training, it has been hard to cover all shifts without paying for a lot of overtime.
From January 1 to early March, the jail used about 493 overtime hours, costing around $21,600. By early April, they had already spent over $30,000 on overtime for the year. Stroeing thinks that if this keeps up, overtime costs could reach about $120,000 for the year. He also mentioned that the county has spent around $250,000 to train staff who then left, which didn’t help the department in the long run.
Burnout and low morale among staff were big worries. The constant overtime is making employees leave or look for other jobs. Stroeing and Carr said adding more staff would mean three workers on each shift (one dispatcher and two jailers). This would give them more flexibility when someone is sick or on leave and help meet training needs without relying so much on overtime...
