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Cass County sheriff: jail down about 20 staff, proposes Century Code training to fill gaps
Summary
Sheriff John told commissioners the jail is about 20 positions short, with persistent vacancies in med-passer roles that assist nurses; he proposed using Century Code authority to train correctional officers for limited licensed duties and internal transports while the department pursues longer-term recruitment.
Sheriff John told the Cass County Board of Commissioners the sheriff's office is "down about 20 people right now," and singled out med-passer positions — staff who assist nurses by distributing medication in the jail — as especially difficult to fill. "I don't think we've ever been full since we've had that position," he said, and described recent hires who withdrew, citing the "dangerous environment" of the facility.
The shortage, he said, increases pressure on nurses and on regular staff. "It certainly takes a lot of additional stress off of our regular staff and then also our medical nurses if they can attend to other things like assessments," Sheriff John said, describing how med-passers free nurses to perform intake assessments when people are booked.
On licensed positions, the sheriff said the department had been allotted 25 licensed peace-officer positions for jail duties but has struggled to keep those slots filled while also meeting patrol needs. To address the gap, he proposed using authority under the Century Code to train selected correctional officers to carry firearms and perform transports and hospital escorts. "The Century Code allows us to have correctional officers . . . be licensed through our department to carry a firearm," he said, adding the office will develop an internal training curriculum for state approval and test whether viable candidates exist among current unlicensed staff.
Captain Froig, who led further detail on operational staffing, said the office will try internal licensure "to see if we have viable candidates that we could move into some positions where they're helping us take people to the hospital and do some transport from time to time." The sheriff and captain said that approach mirrors practices in other jails but that training, state approval and evaluation of candidates will be required.
Commissioners pressed for alternatives to losing med-passers and nurses, and the sheriff said the office is also exploring paramedic hires as one fallback if nurse recruitment remains weak. "If we can't get nurses hired that that could potentially help," the sheriff said, noting a draft job description is being prepared and shared with county finance staff for pay and classification considerations.
The sheriff's office emphasized this is a staffing strategy, not an immediate expansion of duties for untrained staff: any change will require approved curriculum and state sign-off. The office requested continued commission oversight as it develops costs and options.
