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Sheriff's office reports new carpet, staffing shifts and workplace injuries
Summary
At a Stephenson County board meeting, the sheriff's office described upcoming carpet installation, staff turnover and two employees out for medical reasons; board members pressed for clarity on case-count figures.
A representative for the sheriff's office told the Stephenson County board that the department will install new carpet in its main office starting the next day and expects the work to take several days, with completion potentially delayed by a courthouse holiday.
The representative said one employee remains out following back surgery and an adverse reaction to anesthesia, and an office manager suffered a head injury after slipping on ice outside the courthouse and received staples. Staff submitted a workers' compensation claim for the office manager, who continues to experience concussion-related symptoms and is awaiting a follow-up medical clearance before returning to work.
Board members pressed the sheriff's office on caseload numbers after the representative listed “54” on the submitted report. The representative clarified those 54 were new felony cases since the last report, not the department's entire open caseload; when asked for a total open-case estimate, the office said the full count across categories would be substantially higher and later suggested a ballpark total in the low hundreds (an approximate figure provided informally by staff was about 500). The representative also said some employees are finishing out cases through the end of the month and that another staff member (referred to as Sloan) has cleared out an office and appears to be leaving the county.
The sheriff's office representative said the carpet installation crew would move furniture and chairs and that staff expect to be fully staffed within the next couple of weeks if medical returns proceed as planned.
Board members asked about ice removal and whether salt had been placed; the representative said salt had been applied but weather conditions made some walkways hazardous.
The report was given during the meeting's reports section; there were no formal votes attached to the items discussed in this presentation.
Ending: The board moved on to other departmental reports after the sheriff's update, and staff said they would follow up with more precise totals on open caseloads.
