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Sheriff's office seeks evidence-room manager role with hazardous-material handling duties
Summary
The sheriff's office presented a new evidence-room manager position (budgeted as a 40-hour-per-week role) with duties that include packaging and transporting biohazards and narcotics; commissioners asked for a refined job description, potential training and safety requirements, and logistical details such as vehicle use and vaccinations.
Sheriff's office representatives presented a proposed position to manage the county evidence room. The position was budgeted at a regular 40-hour week (2,080 hours/year) and would carry responsibilities substantially beyond a standard secretary role, staff said.
Sheriff's office leadership emphasized that the job will involve direct handling of hazardous materials — including blood-borne evidence and narcotics such as fentanyl — and recommended that the position be classified as an "evidence manager" with incidental secretarial duties. Commissioners and the sheriff discussed necessary safety measures, including proper packaging, chain-of-custody documentation, and biological-safety precautions. Participants noted that the job likely would require vaccinations (for example, hepatitis B) and training on blood-borne pathogens and evidence packaging protocols.
The candidate pool includes clinicians and nurses interested in the role, staff said, making medical training useful. The sheriff recommended shadowing opportunities with the state police or other agencies that maintain mature evidence-room systems, in part because the county's evidence handling practices will change further when the new jail facility and evidence handling area are complete.
Commissioners asked for clarification on logistics: whether the evidence manager would use a county vehicle for transports to the state lab or court (staff suggested stripping a pool car of markings for secure transport) and what certifications or hazardous-materials training would be required. The sheriff's office asked for a revised job description emphasizing evidence management duties (chain of custody, packaging, lab transports, court testimony) rather than secretarial tasks.
No formal vote on classification or hiring was recorded; commissioners asked the sheriff's office to provide a refined job summary and to identify any required vaccinations or certifications so the auditor and HR staff can set the appropriate classification and pay scale.
