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Vanderburgh County approves sheriff staffing change, raises pay classification for part‑time special deputies
Summary
County Council approved eliminating an operations-center clerk to consolidate lobbies and replace duties with two part‑time positions and approved raising the hourly pay classification for part‑time special deputies tied to the county—s school safety agreement.
Vanderburgh County Council on Aug. 14 approved two staffing changes from Sheriff Noah Robinson designed to reduce costs and improve recruitment for school safety assignments. Robinson told the council the county consolidated two public lobbies — at the operations center and at the jail — and that the reduced workload supports eliminating one full‑time operations center clerk and covering duties with two part‑time employees.
Robinson said the consolidation and shift to part‑time staffing will allow the sheriff—s office to reassign one person through attrition rather than fill the role. "We consolidated all of our operations to the jail and closed the Operations Center lobby to the public," Robinson said, describing the move as a cost‑saving measure and an efficiency improvement. He told the council the change would reduce personnel costs when the total compensation and benefits for a full‑time clerk are compared with two part‑time clerks doing the same work.
The council also approved Robinson—s request to reclassify part‑time special deputies to a higher pay step to better recruit officers for the Vanderburgh County school safety agreement. Robinson said the county currently has one part‑time special deputy working the maximum allowed hours (29 per week) and would like to grow to three. He proposed moving part‑time special deputies to "step 6," the highest payroll classification for full‑time sheriff deputies, to mirror the pay of a career deputy at that stage. Council members asked about hours and benefits; staff clarified that part‑time deputies do not receive benefits and work up to the 29‑hour cap.
Both items were approved by voice vote. The sheriff said the pay change would be funded through the school safety agreement and would not require a budget increase to the sheriff—s general appropriation. The council reserved oversight of any subsequent requests to adjust rates further, with members saying they expected the sheriff to return if additional funding were required.
