By Michael Hall
The Brunswick News
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Glynn County Sheriff Neal Jump had requested nine additional detention officers in next fiscal year’s county budget to help fill out the staff he said would be needed to operate the new, larger jail being built on Ross Road.
But when the Glynn County Commission approved the $56.7 million 2015 fiscal year budget Thursday, the $430,00 for the additional personnel for Jump was not in it.
But that’s OK, Jump said. The nine were removed from the budget after he reached a compromise with Glynn County Commission Chairman Mike Browning.
Jump was asked to work on filling more than a dozen vacant detention officer positions at the county jail before requesting nine more.
“We’re about 15 detention officers down right now,” Jump said.
Jump said Friday he still plans to open the new jail some time in late August, once the architect and contractor complete their final punch list.
Rather than add nine more positions to the new budget, which covers the 12 months following July 1, Jump said he and Browning agreed it would be better if the more than $400,000 in public funds went toward the $500,000 the county is using to give county employees a 3 percent cost of living raise.
Jump said five of his officers will be added to a list of 11 county employees who will be reclassified, allowing them to move up a tier in pay grade status following years of service.
“It was somewhat of a compromise,” Jump said. “It was for the betterment of the people who currently work for the county.”
Jump hopes to stop what has become a rampant turnover rate with detention officers by securing more starting pay.
“It is sad to say, but we have a revolving door here with detention officers,” Jump said.
The starting hourly wage of $12.08 for detention center guards in Glynn County is low when compared to the pay at most other county jails in the state, Jump said.
Jump said he has seen new guards hired in Glynn County leave for better paying jobs soon after being hired and trained for duty in the local detention center.
“We need to get our pay up to around $14 or $15 an hour,” Jump said. “For detention officers right now, we are not (competitive).”
With a new jail that can house nearly 600 inmates and an inmate population that has crept back up to around 400 in recent months, Jump said his employees are under more strain by having to work additional overtime to fill the gaps.
Jump, who doesn’t want to burn out the employees he has, said his office is interviewing new applicants daily in hopes of filling the vacancies.
When that happens, he will begin considering adding the nine guards he requested for the upcoming budget, he said.