GREENE County Board relents and gives Deputy Sheriff $1,000 raise:

By Editor | June 25, 2024 |

By Carmen Ensinger

Greene County Sheriff Rob McMillen has been trying to get the County Board to grant Deputy Sheriff Cale Hoesman a raise since the board approved a $4 per hour increase for the patrolmen earlier this year.
Two months ago, he asked that he be given the $4 per hour pay rise like the other officers. Both the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff are considered administrative positions so therefore they don’t come under the union.
One reason the board was hesitant to grant him a pay rise could be the fact that in 2022, when a bill was passed mandating that the Sheriff receive 80 percent of the pay of the States Attorney, that Hoesman’s salary increased from around $52,000 to $67,000, an increase of $15,000.
Of course, the Sheriff’s salary increased significantly as well, to the tune of over $44,000 putting him at around $113,000 two years ago.
Prior to the introduction of the bill, the county was paying the deputy sheriff 75 percent of what they were paying the Sheriff. Under the 75 percent scenario, Hoesman would have made a little over $85,000.
The one highlight of the bill is that the State is paying two-thirds of the Sheriff’s salary, taking the County’s obligation down to around $38,500 as long as the State continues to pay the two-thirds of his salary.
So, as a way around the 75 percent scenario, the board drew up a new resolution setting the Deputy Sheriff’s salary at $67,000. They came up with this amount because they felt that he should not be making more than the office holders.
Last month, the board found that there was a mistake in the resolution drawn up for the Deputy Sheriff. It didn’t contain a timeline. Something they easily remedied by inserting a date.
“We didn’t really have a discussion last month about an increase in the salary or a pay raise,” Board Chairman Andrea Schnelten said. “However, initially the deputy took that as not being fair. He had kind of warned me that he was going to step down as ESDA coordinator if he thought he wasn’t going to get an increase, so he did that the Friday after the board meeting.”
Schnelten said she didn’t bring it up at the time because he had just been paid.
“My thinking was we had already just signed a voucher to pay him for the rest of the year,” she said. “I needed to have a conversation with him to either pay it back, or at least part of it back.”
In the meantime, Schnelten said she asked Public Health Administrator Molly Peters to fill in as ESDA coordinator for 30 days in May.
“During those 30 days, we had the flood and a displaced person to deal with so a lot of things took place that involved ESDA,” Schnelten said. “It really helped me realize that the role of ESDA coordinator is a very important role in cases of emergency.”
The County pays the ESDA coordinator $3,500 a year, far less than surrounding counties.
“I found out that everyone around us was paying double, triple or even 10 times more than what we were paying,” Schnelten said. “Calhoun pays their $7,000 and Jersey pays theirs $30,000.”
Having Peters as an interim with her background in the healthcare field, Schnelten realized that perhaps maybe they needed to have two co-coordinators.
“It really almost needs to be a two-part position because it is very valuable to have someone in law enforcement on the scene dealing with situations being the ESDA coordinator,” she said. “It was also very handy to have someone with Molly’s expertise step in with her background.”
Schnelten said after the flood, Hoesman agreed to take back the ESDA coordinator position until the end of the year.
“But I had an honest conversation with him that perhaps this position does need to be a two-part position,” she said. “One, because if an emergency happens when one person is gone it will be good to have a back-up. Second, it will be good if something very disastrous happens that both of their expertise would come into play.”
Schnelten said it wasn’t something she was proposing right now, but would like for there to be some conversation about it.
“Perhaps we could ask Molly to be a backup,” Schnelten said. “Maybe just do a review of the overall ESDA program as a whole and consider what kind of compensation there should be for the backup position. I was grateful he agreed to take the position back. I think he spends a lot of time on it and is very passionate about it.”
Christy Ford said there was something in the ordinance she was unclear about.
“In the ordinance it says that we will give a $1,000 increase to the position over the course of three years,” she said. “But it also says that the max pay is $67,000, which is where we started his salary.”
Schnelten said the reason he was started at $67,000 was so he would not be making more than the office holders.
“However, in the past two years, the office holders have gotten a raise and now they are at $68,942,” she said. “I would like to make a suggestion to offer a $1,000 increase to him. I’m not saying we have to make the same increase next year, but that gives him a little bit of something and keeps him below the office holders.”
All board members agreed to the $1,000 increase in his salary bringing it to $68,000 with the exception of Mark Strang who voted no.