Klamath County commissioners, meeting for their first administrative session of 2025, approved a set of administrative measures including a hiring exception that will allow the sheriff to eliminate a captain post and create an undersheriff position, and they waived a public‑health jail sanitary inspection fee.

The measures matter because the undersheriff position is described by county staff as central to the sheriff’s office administrative structure and will increase personnel costs that the county must absorb or offset. Commissioners also approved a one‑time adjustment to payroll records for a departing employee, moved to equalize commissioner training funds for the newly seated commissioner, endorsed social‑media guidelines for county communications staff, signed letters of support for two local infrastructure grants and accepted a capital‑funding request form for the Shasta House project.

Lieutenant Strickland, identified in the meeting as the jail commander for the sheriff’s office, asked the board to waive a $285 public‑health inspection fee for the county jail’s upcoming inspection. County staff indicated the fee could be covered from general‑fund administrative community‑benefit monies and the board voted to waive the fee.

County staff said the sheriff’s office proposed restructuring by eliminating one captain position and creating an undersheriff post. Staff estimated the fully loaded cost of the new undersheriff position at roughly $200,000 and said office managers identified about $100,000 in materials‑and‑services savings that could offset roughly half that cost. Commissioners approved a motion to eliminate the captain position, create the undersheriff position, and make the limited budget adjustments necessary to allow the sheriff to hire for the new post. The board asked that a job description be assembled using templates from other counties; county HR will review the job description before the sheriff may appoint an undersheriff.

On personnel pay, payroll and finance staff described a separated employee whose time was documented in payroll records as 24 hours of flex time but who, staff said, had intended the hours to be compensatory overtime. County policy distinguishes flex time, which is not payable at separation, from comp time, which is paid out. Finance staff recommended—and the board approved—making an exception to pay the equivalent of 36 hours as comp time to the resigned employee; payroll staff said they would reclassify the documented time accordingly and process the payout as an exception to policy.

The board also voted to adjust the budget allocation for Commissioner Position 1 so that travel and training funds for the newly seated commissioner match the amounts allocated to positions 2 and 3 for the remainder of the fiscal year; finance staff said the transfer will come from the general‑administration fund balance. Commissioners conveyed support for allowing newly elected commissioners to attend training and orientation programs that teach county operations and advocacy.

County staff presented a social‑media responsibility guideline prepared for the county multimedia and IT teams to guide how county accounts post information and respond to the public. Commissioners endorsed the guideline by consensus and directed staff to implement it as an internal procedure for the county’s communications staff.

The board signed two letters of support requested by external partners. One letter endorses the Klamath Irrigation District Modernization Project; another supports a grant application for the OC& E (OCNE) Trail crossings and a Foothills multiuse path extension. Public‑works staff said integrating three local trail crossings into the state‑led OC& E trail repaving would be administratively simpler and that the county’s cash/in‑kind contribution for the three connections was valued at $186,000; staff said the county would fund those contributions from the set‑aside of gas‑tax funds reserved for bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Finally, staff presented a capital‑funding request form for the Shasta House project. Project materials reviewed in the meeting listed a construction estimate of about $4.6 million, additional site, utilities and permitting estimates that brought the county’s current project estimate to roughly $5.5 million, and a proposed local match plan that would count $500,000 in land/site improvements as in‑kind match plus a proposed $400,000 cash match. County staff said the $400,000 cash match could come from opioid‑settlement funds previously allocated for treatment and recovery infrastructure; staff emphasized the county would not be using general‑fund tax revenues for the match and that final match commitments are typically confirmed at project closeout.

Votes at a glance: the board voted on the items above and approved each motion presented (motions were made and seconded during the meeting and each passed). The chair, Commissioner Minty, voted aye on the recorded motions during the meeting; the transcript records the chair’s affirmative vote explicitly for the items listed above. Where individual commissioners’ roll‑call votes were not read into the record, staff recorded and will publish the official meeting minutes with any full roll calls and vote tallies.

The board adjourned after completing the items on the administrative agenda and moved on to the next scheduled meeting business.