By Carie Canterbury
Daily Record, Canon City, Colo.
CANON CITY, Colo. — Individuals wishing to gain employment as a detentions deputy at the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office no longer have to wait until they are 21 to apply.
On Tuesday, the Fremont County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution amending the Fremont County Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual with a lower age requirement for detention deputies from 21 to 18.
“Hopefully that will resolve some staffing shortages that we have ongoing,” Fremont County Human Resources Director Alicia Stone said during Tuesday’s BOCC meeting.
Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said staffing on the detention side has been an ongoing issue since before he took office.
“We are consistently down between 10 and 15 employees, and that’s why we have the continuous running of our application for detention deputies,” he said. “Statutorily, there is no requirement for the age to be 21, so I hope by making this change we can open up a pool of employees so we can start rebuilding that detention division.”
The lower age requirement will require more training and supervision, but it will make deputies better prepared, Capt. Jim Moore said.
“I think that if we can get them into the sheriff’s office at that young age, we are going to build more successful deputies when they prepare to transition to the patrol division,” Moore said. “Across the board, I think it will really benefit the agency and the county, as well.”
Board Chair Kevin Grantham said this will add another tool in the toolbox for the county to deal with staffing issues and getting applications.
Also during the meeting, the board presented the Fremont County 2023 Accountability Report. The report highlights statistics and milestones of the various County departments and offices.
The report lists some notable hires and retirements, including County Administrator Tony Carochi; Department of Human Services Director Barry Acton; Tony Adamic, who retired as the Fremont County Department of Transportation Director after 30 years of dedicated service; Department of Transportation Director Michael Whitt; Public Health and Environment Director Paula Buser; and Assistant County Attorney Sean R. Biddle.
“These folks are all doing great jobs for the departments they are in and representing the county and the people of Fremont County well,” Commissioner Dwayne McFall said. “We are blessed to have struck gold with these folks.”
This report is available online at https://bit.ly/43zQY28.
“We as a board think that the accountability report is one of the most important things that we can do for our citizens because we know, we understand, you pay a lot of taxes to Fremont County because we pay those same taxes,” Commissioner Debbie Bell said. “This is our effort to let you know what it is that we do with all of those taxes that we collect from you every single year.”
In other business, the board:
* Rescheduled the Board of County Commissioners meeting from May 28 to May 20 at 9 a.m.
* Rescheduled the Board of Human Services meeting from May 28 to May 21 at 1:15 p.m.
* Rescheduled the Board of Public Health and Environment meeting from May 28 to May 21 at 2 p.m.
* Scheduled a public hearing for revision of Fremont County Zoning Resolution with final approval on May 20 at 1:30 p.m.
* Approved a proclamation naming April 1-7 as National Public Health Week.
* Approved a proclamation naming April as Fremont County Child Abuse Awareness Month.
* Approved a proclamation naming April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
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