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Sheriff warns staff shortages could hamper evacuations; seeks recruitment/retention solutions
Summary
Sheriff Mike Fisher reported four recent departures from the sheriff's office, urged attention to recruitment and retention (including hiring bonuses elsewhere), and warned limited staffing could complicate rapid evacuations during fire season.
Sheriff Mike Fisher told the Sierra County Board of Supervisors his office recently lost four employees and is concerned about being understaffed for the upcoming fire season.
Fisher said the department has hired one deputy and is finalizing a reserve deputy, but acknowledged the office remains thinly staffed and that rapid, immediate evacuations on a red-flag day would be difficult without mutual aid. "Evacuations that are anticipated 12, 24 hours out, those are easier. If it's immediately upon the community...it will be very difficult with a small group," Fisher said.
The sheriff and board members noted competitive hiring bonuses in other counties, including Butte County's reported $50,000 sign-on bonus for lateral hires, and discussed housing scarcity as a recruitment constraint. A board member asked whether departures were due to pay; Fisher said two departures were personnel matters not for public discussion, one deputy left for Nevada County and another moved out of state. "The short answer" to whether higher pay drew applicants away was "yes," Fisher said.
Fisher asked the board to consider recruitment and retention measures and noted the department's reliance on mutual aid from neighboring counties, which can take time to mobilize. The board signaled the issue will be discussed further in the finance committee later in the day.
