Sheriff—mployees press commissioners over pay compression and retention during heated public comment

Dozens of Davidson County Sheriff's Office employees and retirees addressed the Board of Commissioners on June 5, urging changes to recent pay adjustments they said create "compression" between line officers and first-line supervisors and are driving departures.

Speakers included detention supervisors and lieutenants who described day-to-day responsibilities, medical emergencies and safety risks they handle and said proposed pension and pay calculations exclude credit for prior law‑enforcement service. They pressed the board to address both recruitment and retention, saying recent pay steps leave some supervisors making similar or less than subordinates.

The comments began after a brief opening from a speaker who said the sheriff's office is "at a crossroads" and continued across multiple residents and employees. Several speakers identified themselves and their roles: Taylor Calicut, sergeant in the detention center; Bridal Willis, lieutenant; Jerry Souls, lieutenant; Dan Watson, sergeant; Michael Dunlap, lieutenant; Charles Goforth, lieutenant; Christie Barner, sergeant; and Mike Burns, retired captain. They described heavy workloads, safety incidents and the recruitment competition with neighboring agencies.

County Manager Casey Smith responded in detail to the board, describing the personnel analysis the county staff and a small commissioner committee had undertaken. Smith said staff examined a list of roughly 35 employees brought forward by the sheriff, found about half already had salary caps or credit recorded in county payroll records, and produced a spreadsheet showing three possible components: (1) slotting employees into pay steps based on verified county years of service ("slotting"), (2) a 2% band adjustment intended to reduce hiring shortfalls at entry levels, and (3) targeted increases to starting pay so the county is more competitive with neighboring jurisdictions. Smith said the immediate package discussed would address a subset of deputies, detention officers and detectives first and that fully fixing countywide compression would cost substantially more than the package under consideration.

Smith and several commissioners repeatedly said the county must balance those requests against the county budget and that some corrections would have to be phased. Commissioners asked staff for more precise orbit/retirement reports and vacancy data to verify outside years of service and to show who the county is actually losing employees to. Commissioner Tripp Kester, who said he serves as both a commissioner and a deputy sheriff, told the room he heard the concerns and supported finding a fair outcome.

Speakers representing the sheriff's office argued that first-line supervisors are "boots on the ground" who respond to the same calls and face the same risks as deputies. They said not crediting prior service or excluding sergeants and lieutenants from additional band increases devalues leadership and compounds retirement compression. Speakers recounted incidents of assault, exposures to trauma, and chronic overtime. Several said recruitment and retention decisions are affected by competing offers from surrounding agencies and that some employees would take pay elsewhere.

At several points commissioners and the county manager stressed constraints: Smith said the county previously estimated $3.5 million to substantially address countywide compression and that a complete fix without a tax increase would be difficult. Commissioners asked staff to return with verified orbit/retirement reports that show prior years of service, a clearer accounting of costs for the specific groups discussed, and vacancy/loss destination data (which agencies hires are coming from).

No formal pay decision or vote was taken at the meeting. Commissioners directed staff to compile the additional verification and cost options and to bring the refined numbers back for further board consideration. Several commissioners expressed sympathy for frontline employees and support for a phased approach if funds could be identified.

The public comment and county manager's response occupied the bulk of the meeting's early and middle sections; the board later moved to other agenda items and into closed session before adjourning.

Ending: Commissioners did not adopt a pay change at the meeting. Staff was asked to provide verified orbit/retirement reports, vacancy and destination data for recent separations, and updated cost scenarios so the board can consider phased options in the coming weeks.