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Sheriff’s office urges change to deputy overtime policy to ease staffing shortages
Summary
The sheriff’s office reported 26 deputy applicants with eight advancing to interviews and urged the council to consider shifting overtime eligibility from 86 to 80 hours to better recruit volunteers for transports and special details; council asked staff for historical overtime data before acting.
A county law‑enforcement representative told the Rush County Council June 1 the sheriff’s office has 26 applicants for deputy openings, with 18 qualifying for physical testing and eight moving on to interviews. The office said it currently has two vacancies and anticipates a third opening in August.
The speaker urged the council to reconsider how overtime is calculated for deputies, proposing that deputies receive overtime after 80 hours rather than after 86 hours. The change, the speaker said, would align overtime treatment for 8‑hour deputies with jailers and would make premium work and transport details more attractive to staff volunteers. The speaker noted the overtime rule’s origin in the Fair Labor Standards Act and said surrounding counties use various approaches.
Council members asked for a data-driven estimate of what switching from 86 to 80 hours would have cost over the last year before considering policy changes. The meeting produced no immediate vote; the council directed staff to draft formal policy language and return with cost estimates and a written policy for consideration.
