County court tackles SO staffing, expenses

GROVETON — The Trinity County Commissioners Court discussed budget proposals for the Sheriff’s Department, focusing on jail and patrol staffing.

At a special meeting on Sept. 16, County Judge Danny Martin questioned the number of employees covering the jail, asking if the jail could run with five full-time and three part-time jailers and an administrator.

County Treasurer Orren Hargrave said leaving staffing at the jail as is, since it puts the department at the levels it had two years ago, prior to receiving a variance from the state to house additional prisoners and adding four jailers.

The concern comes from the additional jailers hired when the county was allowed to hold 15 instead of seven prisoners. However, after losing that variance, the court felt additional jailers were not necessary, prompting outrage from Sheriff’s Office members and county residents.

Commissioner Neal Smith said every department needs to stay within budget as he has to, and Commissioner Mike Loftin agreed, saying that management of employees is key and the county needs to tighten up and be better stewards of the budget.

“We have a full crew at the jail, and we’re over $92,000 in comp time; we’ve lost our variance in February, we’ve had this full crew the whole time, and we’re still over in the jail end of it, and $21,000 over in the other side,” Smith said.

Commissioner Tommy Park said the department was still going into overtime and comp time with a full crew and without the extra prisoners.

“Something’s going on over there, but I don’t know the answer,” he said.

Commissioners discussed cutting in other areas, such as education and fuel costs; but on the matter of staffing, moving to three part-time jailers will be plugged into the budget to see the effect. The county was to meet in a special session on Monday to finalize the budget.

Martin said the county is trying not to raise taxes this year, calling it a difficult process.

“Even our department heads have sliced their budgets as much as they can so the people wouldn’t have an extra tax bill,” he said. “We feel y’all have paid enough, and all around the country, utilities have gone up, insurance has gone up, hospitals have gone up, everything has gone up and we’ve tried to hold steady. It’s easy to spend money, but it’s awful hard to save it.”

The discussion, and the court’s decision, led Sheriff Woody Wallace to take to social media to offer his insight to staffing.

Wallace said the truth about running a jail is:

• Dispatch and the jail require around-the-clock staffing. Unlike commissioners’ offices, the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t get Fridays off or regular “8 to 4” hours. We work 24/7, 365 days a year — holidays, weekends, and in all weather.
• Every day, we often must run two vans in two different directions transporting inmates to and from jails. Some are being released, while others have just been arrested or must appear in court. Each van requires at least one jailer. These trips can take 4 to 7 hours, making for 14-16 hour days, causing overtime.
• An incident that was brought up concerning two jailers supervising one inmate working at the city library was misrepresented. Wallace said one jailer had just arrived to relieve the other, who was supervising a trustee working on projects that saved the county thousands of dollars.

In Wallace’s post, he said Commissioner Smith claimed the Sheriff’s Office is $96,000 over budget. What he didn’t say is:

• That number comes from one payroll line item, not the overall budget.
• The Sheriff’s Office is under budget overall in 2025.
• Much of the payroll overage comes from paying out earned overtime and holiday time to employees who left for better-paying jobs. Those payments are mandated by law.

He also pointed out that commissioners themselves went over their own budget by $312,000 this year and $297,000 last year.

“It’s also important to note why no one from the Sheriff’s Office was in court during (the Sept. 16) budget hearing,” Wallace wrote. “We had already attended the earlier meeting that specifically addressed the Sheriff’s Office budget. At that time, we were under the impression that the matter was resolved and that we were going back to the pre-variance budget. That is why we were not present during the later hearing.”

Dispatch, jail staffing cuts

Wallace pointed out that the six full-time people are dispatchers, not jailers, and the effect of sending people home to avoid overtime would mean:

• Closing the jail, moving all inmates to other counties, and sending jail staff home.
• Operate only a daytime dispatch center, leaving no 24-hour coverage for emergencies.

“I don’t believe the people of Trinity County want that — but if that’s what the residents choose, then that’s what would have to happen,” Wallace wrote. “In my opinion, this is not safe or effective for the county.

“If we cut jailers down to the proposed level, we will not be able to move inmates to court, which means cases will back up and inmates will sit in jail longer — costing the county thousands of dollars,” he said. “If we don’t have enough dispatchers, overtime is unavoidable because someone has to answer 911 calls when another dispatcher is sick, resigns, or takes a day off.”

Wallace also said that questioning leadership and employee management has impacted morale at the Sheriff’s Office.

“I am proud of the men and women who serve Trinity County,” Wallace said. “They work here because of the leadership and the mission — not because of the paycheck. But after being degraded and attacked repeatedly in Commissioners Court, many are now talking about leaving. That is a loss this county cannot afford.”

Wallace pointed out that county meetings are broadcast on YouTube and can be accessed at any time.