The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved using its share of funding from Proposition 207 marijuana sales in Arizona to go toward the Yavapai County Sheriff Office’s recruitment and retention bonus program for 911 dispatchers during its meeting in Cottonwood on Wednesday, May 17.
YCSO is authorized 19 positions for 911 operators and two communication supervisors to staff the dispatch center, the meeting documents state. “Over the past year, we have struggled to maintain staffing levels and are currently experiencing a 42% [eight positions] vacancy. Fiscal year-to-date personnel in dispatch have worked a cumulative 1,904 hours of overtime to cover shifts due to vacancy.”
Recruitment efforts have been unsuccessful, with only one new hire about a month ago, according to Sheriff David Rhodes.
“The end date is when we are fully staffed and that’s a moving target because you have people that are coming in or going,” Rhodes said at the meeting. “Our idea is when we got to 22 [filled positions] paid out, that would be the end date, but it’s going to take an entire year for that to occur.”
The new bonuses will be in effect for one year. Rhodes said that any future approved bonuses beyond that point, if staffing levels fail to improve, will continue to be paid out of marijuana funds.
Each of the operators and supervisors will receive $5,000. Employees on the YCSO roster at the end of June will receive two payments of $2,500 six months apart. Employees hired after June will receive four payments of $1,250 during their first year of employment with the department.
Rhodes also confirmed that YCSO town hall meetings with the Sedona community that were planned for earlier in the year are still being rescheduled.
