Monroe County adds 4 jail guard positions, adds security duty, drops age from 21 to 18

Four new correctional officer positions have been added to the Monroe County jail staff.

That move came at the regular Tuesday meeting of the Monroe County council on a unanimous vote.

On a separate vote, the council added one duty to the job description for correctional officers.  That duty includes providing security services at the county courthouse.

The council also lowered the age requirement for correctional officers from 21 to 18 years.

Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté, chief deputy Phil Parker and jail commander Kyle Gibbons were on hand at the council’s meeting to field any questions.

The four new positions are not related to the six other new jail guard positions that the council approved in late March.  The six new positions approved earlier were connected to Monroe County’s plans to design and build a new jail at a still undetermined location.

The basic idea for assembling a transition team is to draw from current jail staff who know the ins and outs of Monroe County’s current jail and its processes. But in order to do that, the jobs now being done by those staff will need to be backfilled. The added six positions reflect the work by transition team members that still has to be covered.

The four new positions approved on Tuesday are connected to prisoner transport issues and a need for security that has been identified at the Monroe County historic courthouse building.

On Tuesday, the issue that received council discussion was the source of funding for the four new positions. Up for consideration as funding sources were the general fund, the public safety local income tax, and the correctional local income tax.

The council decided to draw from the general fund to pay for the positions. That was based in part on the fact that the 2023 year end general fund balance is a lot higher than was projected during the council’s planning for the 2024 budget.

Councilor Geoff McKim had reported earlier in the meeting on the higher-than-expected fund balance. According to McKim, the projected 2023 year end cash balance in the general fund was $21.7 million. But the actual cash balance turned out to be $25.6 million—which is almost $4 million more than the county had projected.

The bigger amount was due to greater-than-anticipated reversions (unspent appropriations) and interest earned, McKim said.

Receiving little discussion before the vote was the reason for adding the four positions. Responding to a question asked by The B Square from the public mic, councilor Marty Hawk said that part of the need was related to prisoner transport.

The idea is that when correctional officers transport prisoners to receive treatment or other services, that can mean the jail itself is short staffed.

In addition to transport issues, councilors have identified a need for some additional security. County council president Trent Deckard pointed to a note in the meeting information packet that describes a joint executive session of the county council and the board of county commissioners to discuss “security system needs.”

Those needs are in Monroe County’s historic courthouse building.

The job description for correctional officers was changed to allow for them to serve on a security detail for the courthouse building. The added wording for the job description reads like this:

As assigned by the Sheriff and/or their designee, patrols, and monitors activities at the location of the Monroe County Courthouse to ensure the premises is safe and secure. Greets staff and courthouse patrons in a courteous and attentive manner. Responds immediately to Courthouse department’s requests for assistance.

The age requirement was dropped from 21 to 18 years, in order to “to create a greater pool of applicants seeking a career in law enforcement,” according to the meeting information packet.