Currituck County moves to restore on-call stipend for social services supervisors after public appeals

Samantha Herd, Currituck County social services director, urged the Board of Commissioners on May 4 to restore an on-call stipend for supervisors, saying the role requires 24-hour supervisory decision-making and that after-hours responses “frequently require supervisors to engage in prolonged, complex situations under urgent conditions.” Herd told the board the change would cost about $10,820 and would not affect the existing budget.

During the public-comment period, Kitty Ethridge, a social services commission appointee, said children’s safety is at stake when trained staff are not available and urged the board not to delay reinstating the stipend. Sher Voss, chair of the Department of Social Services board, said repeated postponements have increased risk and stressed the county’s difficulty hiring and retaining mission‑critical staff; Jim Wheeler, a former county social services worker, also voiced support.

Several commissioners said they supported the DSS request but raised concerns about consistency across exempt employees in other departments, including water, public works and patrol lieutenants, who often respond after hours. After discussion, a commissioner moved that the board reconsider and re-add the DSS stipend item to the consent agenda for action that night and amended that motion to direct staff to develop county‑wide stipend recommendations for inclusion in the upcoming budget. The motion was seconded and passed with one vote in opposition.

When the board later approved the consent agenda, the re-added DSS item was included. Commissioners said staff will return with options to make stipend practices more consistent across departments during the budget process.

The board did not specify a timeline in the meeting for when staff will complete the county‑wide review; the motion directed staff to present recommendations before the next budget adoption.