Commissioners approve incentives for county jailers and dispatchers

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

The Coryell County Commissioners approved a change to incentive pay categories in the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office to support jailers and dispatchers at their meeting Monday morning. 
A similar incentive pay change was approved in February to benefit deputies who received training and certification regarding specializing as a hostage negotiator, intoxilyzer operator, K-9 officer, evidence tech, range master/weapons trainer and crime prevention specialist. The change approved by the commissioners would allow jailers and dispatchers with CCSO to receive an incentive pay increase if they have complete training and received certification in the previously mentioned specialties. 
The required number of hours of training has increased from 90 to 120 hours for jailers and from 60 to 696 hours for law enforcement officers, Chief Deputy Mark Wilcox shared. Of the 80 plus personnel in the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office, only one does not fall under the Texas Commission of Law Enforcement (TCOLE) guidelines requiring hours of training.
Currently, one jailer and two dispatchers hold instructor certification; two jailers have field training certification; two jailers have intoxilyzer operator certifications; and the Dispatch Sergeant holds a hostage negotiation certification. 
County Judge John Firth said he thought this was an important request and that the training and incentives offer an advantage to the dispatchers and jailers in helping them do their jobs.  
Firth also explained that this would help retain the employees and prevent the need for training a new employee. 
If the CCSO loses an employee, it would cost up to twice their salary to replace and train a new employee, Wilcox said. 
Sheriff Scott Williams agreed that it would be best to retain employees. Jailers and dispatchers must be TCOLE certified and up to date on their training just as the deputies do, so it makes sense to offer an incentive. 
“Not everybody’s standing in the wings waiting to be a jailer or a dispatcher and I would like to be able to keep what I have,” Williams said. 
The commissioners took no action on a burn ban due to forecasted rains. 
Andy James, project coordinator for Texas A&M University Natural Resources Institute, presented the commissioners with a grant application for a County Feral Hog Abatement Grant. Funds from this grant would go towards three additional traps and one additional head gate. James proposed requesting an amount of $10,000, of which $9,000 will go towards the traps and supplies and $1,000 will go to a subcontractor assembling the traps. 
The county began trying to reduce the feral hog population in 2015, with 10 traps. Since last March, nearly 2,000 hogs have been caught, bringing the total since 2015 to nearly 3,000, James said. 
This grant, if awarded, will further help the county in reducing the feral hog population and the damage that the animals cause. Hogs have been spotted inside Gatesville city limits as well as Copperas Cove city limits, Firth said. The problem with the hogs isn’t going away but rather accelerating, “so anything to mitigate the expansion and perhaps control the expansion,” until the state or federal government come up with more solutions is welcome, Firth said. 
The grant award recipient will be announced April 20 and funds must be spent by August 31. 
The commissioners approved Coryell County Proclamation No. 2018-07, designating April as “Child Abuse Prevention Month”. 
The commissioners also were presented with the FY 2017 Financial Audit by Becky Roberts, CPA, of Roberts and McGee CPA, where Roberts informed the commissioners that Coryell County has an extremely low debt compared to similar sized counties. The county has $16.3 million in equity, with a breakdown of $6.6 million in unrestricted funds, $2.1 million in restricted funds and $7.5 million invested in capital assets. The general fund balance is $9.6 million, with coverage for five and a half months. This fund balance covers quarterly expenditures which may precede quarterly revenues as well as providing a source of funding to help maintain county services and functions during periods of emergencies and disaster.