Potter County court approves one-time staffing shifts, $183,540 certificate-pay fund for sheriff; directs further salary study

Potter County Commissioners on Monday approved a set of short-term steps to ease staffing pressures in the county’s public-safety agencies, including $183,540 to expand certificate pay for sheriff’s office personnel and the creation of a county fire marshal position funded from the county’s capital account (CAD). The court also accepted the removal of several unfilled positions from department budgets to free money for those moves.

County Fire Rescue and the sheriff’s office told the court they had been losing staff and increasingly relied on overtime and volunteers. Jonathan Stevens, who came forward with colleagues to describe recent fire responses, said the department “is currently the only department in the county that relies heavily on a volunteer-driven model, and it is failing,” and asked commissioners to restore pay increases and a fire marshal role that had been cut from an earlier draft budget.

The court approved a motion allocating an additional $183,540 to expand certificate pay across ranks in the sheriff’s office — a program the sheriff’s deputies’ association said would extend stipend payments to telecommunicators and jailers and raise existing certificate stipends for patrol ranks. Commissioners also voted to remove a set of unfilled noncustodial positions (including a deputy clerk in the county clerk’s office and a deputy position proposed for courthouse security) so that those funds could be redistributed to public-safety compensation and staffing. The court approved the certificate-pay allocation and the personnel removals by recorded voice vote, each passing unanimously, 5–0.

Separately, commissioners added a full-time county fire marshal position at a captain-level pay grade to the county payroll, with salary and benefits to be funded from the CAD. The county’s project manager and fire officials told the court a candidate on staff could be certified and in place within a year; the court approved that motion 5–0.

Sheriff’s office leaders told the court the agency has lost roughly 15 employees in the past year and currently has several deputies “ready to leave” for higher pay elsewhere. The sheriff’s starting pay as stated in the meeting was $62,868.72, with step increases at two and four years; the deputies’ association asked the court to move pay “closer to state averages,” proposing a mix of percentage raises and larger certificate pay to narrow gaps with neighboring agencies.

Commissioners asked the sheriff’s office to refine its salary study and to provide apples‑to‑apples comparisons with counties (not police departments) in the region. The court and department officials also agreed to continue discussing use of CAD funds, forfeiture and commissary revenue, and other one-time sources to partially offset recurring pay requests.

The court’s actions were framed as transitional: several commissioners said funding from CAD or one-time position eliminations could be used now, with broader compensation changes to be revisited in the next budget cycle after a more detailed salary study.

What was discussion only: Commissioners and the public debated longer-term remodeling of Station 5 and other capital projects; that $850,000 remodel project remained on the table for later consideration. What was direction/assignment: commissioners directed staff and the sheriff’s office to return with a cleaned, apples-to-apples salary comparison and asked county administration to show how CAD or other reallocations could sustain recurring costs. What was formal action: the court approved (1) the $183,540 certificate-pay expansion for the sheriff’s office (vote 5–0), (2) removal of specified unfilled positions to free funds (vote 5–0), and (3) creation of a CAD‑funded county fire marshal position at captain pay (vote 5–0).

The court asked both departments to continue working with county staff so any future recurring pay increases can be paired with recurring revenue or longer-term budget adjustments.