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Commissioners press for clarity on jail staffing as staff scale opening of new law enforcement center
Summary
County staff scaled an earlier 50+ staffing request down to 27 positions needed to open two pods in the new law enforcement center, but commissioners pressed for timelines, training capacity and clear cost projections before approving new recurring personnel.
Pender County staff presented a staffing plan to open the first pods of the county's new law enforcement center and asked the board to consider hiring a mix of detention officers, patrol deputies and detectives to bring the facility into initial operation.
Captain Strickland, who led the jail planning, described a phased opening that would start with two pods (bringing beds from 92 to an initial 136) rather than staffing the new facility at full capacity immediately. The scaled request reduces an earlier 50-plus ask to roughly 27 positions to achieve a safe initial opening: 23 detention officers, two reclasses to sergeant and two additional kitchen staff. "Captain Strickland had already done the work" to identify the staffing needed to scale pods, staff said.
Commissioners questioned training time and recruitment feasibility: basic detention certification requires multiple weeks of classroom training followed by on-the-job shadowing, and counties across North Carolina face strong competition for certified candidates. Staff noted the county had added four patrol deputies and four detention officers at the start of the year but many funded positions remain vacant as recruiting and academy schedules limit how fast newly funded posts can be filled. The sheriff's office and jail administration told commissioners those hires are a combination of new positions and replacements for vacancies.
Several commissioners asked for full cost projections tied to staffing scenarios and for a clear timeline that matched recruitment and state inspection requirements. "We can't appropriate funds for positions we can't fill," one commissioner said, urging staff to show the phased recruitment plan and expected on-boarding dates before the board commits to additional recurring payroll.
The manager said staff will return with a detailed staffing-cost package and a phased plan aligned to training pipelines so the board can decide which positions are required for safe occupancy and which can be deferred.
The discussion also raised the potential to recoup operating costs by contracting jail beds for outside inmates; staff said state inspection and contractual details remain under review and must comply with state jail standards.
