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Sheriff seeks civilian clerical hire to free sergeant for patrol duties
Summary
Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald told the Board of Supervisors that he wants to move a sergeant from support services into field services and hire a civilian office services technician to backfill clerical work, a change the sheriff said would add one civilian position but not increase sworn staffing.
Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald told the Board of Supervisors during a Jan. 27 budget work session that he proposes moving a sergeant currently assigned to support services into field services and hiring a civilian office services technician to handle clerical duties.
Fitzgerald said the change would not add sworn positions but would allow the department to “free up the current day shift Sergeant” for patrol work while creating administrative capacity in field services. “What were asking for is a person to come in into the clerical, position,” he said. He later summarized the personnel effect: “Our sworn personnel will stay the same. Our civilian personnel clerical will increase by 1.”
The sheriffs office told the board there are currently four clerical staff in the front office and one clerical in the jail; the proposal would make the front-office clerical staff five and reassign duties now performed by a sergeant. Captain Natalia (last name not specified in the transcript) and other command staff described several administrative tasks that follow the sergeant into field services, including fleet maintenance, media requests and management of in-car camera systems, and said a dedicated civilian would absorb front-office workload so the sergeant could focus on field supervision.
Supervisors asked whether the new hire would be sworn and whether existing clerical staff could absorb the duties. The sheriffs office replied it was seeking a civilian technician to avoid the higher cost of an additional sworn position and to limit budget impact; staff indicated a cost comparison between a sworn replacement and a civilian was shown to the board but did not present a formal motion during the meeting.
No formal action or vote occurred during the work session on this request. The board did not decide on funding or authorization at the Jan. 27 meeting; officials said they did not expect an immediate staffing decision at that session.
Why it matters: the change is intended to put an experienced sworn supervisor back on patrol while keeping total sworn headcount unchanged and adding a lower-cost civilian role. The proposal affects patrol supervision, front-office workload and how administrative responsibilities are allocated across divisions of the sheriffs office.
What remains unresolved: the board did not approve the position at the session, and the sheriffs office acknowledged salary and budget impacts remain subject to the countys overall budget decisions.
