Law enforcement committee OKs switch to jail administrator

Taylor County is seeing some changes to supervision of the jail.

At the May 8 county law enforcement meeting, committee members gave their approval to a plan to create a jail administrator position. This salaried position will work day shifts on Monday through Friday and serve as the point person for supervising jail staff and ensuring regulations and policies are being followed.

Under the current structure, the supervision of the jail falls to two jail sergeants who are supplemented by a jail corporal. The jail sergeants report to the chief deputy.

According to sheriff Corey Dassow, one of the takeaways with meeting with the state jail inspectors is the need for a single point of contact for leadership of the jail.

Dassow knows from experience what it takes to oversee the jail. In his previous role as chief deputy before becoming sheriff in January, Dassow directly oversaw the jail sergeants.

Dassow’s plan calls for keeping the two sergeant positions who would work 12-hour “power shifts” of noon to midnight which would ensure there would be overlap with jail staff throughout the normal shifts. Normal jail shifts run 12 hours beginning and ending at 4 p.m and 4 a.m.

Dassow explained that the busy hours for jail operations are between noon to about 6 to 7 p.m. at night, and that things generally are quiet after midnight and the overnight shifts. Dassow explained that often the staff working the overnight shift is newer and less experienced than those working on the day shift. Dassow said by having the sergeants working the power shifts they would be able to provide more direct oversight of those staff members.

Taylor County is the only county in the region that does not have currently have a jail administrator and the hope is that it would help with overall operation and management of the jail.

The jail has a current population of about 32 inmates with 11 of them from Marathon County and two from Price County. While this is a low number at the present, the jail population has historically been in the 60s or higher in the recent past.

While the county’s consultant will determine the wage rating based on job duties, similar positions in nearby counties are making between $37 to $38 per hour.

Dassow said he has been working with administrative coordinator/human resources director Nicole Hager and his department’s leadership team to develop the plan.

Dassow said the intent is not to add staff with the position. The goal would be instead to shift around existing staff to fill the spots internally. The county would also see some savings through the elimination of the additional pay for the jail corporal. The additional cost to the county was projected to be about $12,600 per year.

Hager said ideally it would be a matter of moving people into the rights spots to meet county needs.

Committee member Chuck Zenner asked if this could potentially reduce the amount of overtime with the sergeants. Dassow said that is a potential, but he said he saw it more as a way to improve overall jail operations. He noted that Chief Deputy Chad Kowalczyk, along with the rest of the department, has been focused on law enforcement matters in the past month with the double homicide in the beginning of April and working with Price County on the ongoing missing person’s case in the northeast part of the county.

“I see it being beneficial to operations,” Dassow said.

Committee members agreed and gave their approval. The proposal will next go to county’s finance and personnel committees for additional action.

In other business committee members:

• Reviewed and discussed the carryover funds for the sheriff and emergency management offices. The 2023 county audit, which was first reviewed and approved by the county finance committee earlier this year, showed that more money was listed as being in reserve funds than the actual cash on hand seemed to show. As a result, the finance committee had directed departments to review carryover accounts to determine if they were truly necessary or could be eliminated through the budget process.

At the same time the county is looking to cut back on the number of reserve funds some board members, such as supervisor Lori Floyd are pushing for the county to be more aggressive in setting aside funds for items like law enforcement and emergency radio communication devices to have money on hand when they need to be replaced. “I am a proponent of planning ahead,” Floyd said. “Clearly we need to be saving money for things we need to replace,” she said.

A suggestion was to establish a county-wide capital improvement project account which would include funds set aside for different expected needs in the county.

• Received an update on the status of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Emergency management director Daniel Gellert said things are in transition at the federal level and cautioned that with cuts made by the Trump Administration, additional cost for emergency response could end up being put onto the state and local governments more than in the past. He also reported on the county losing BRIQ funding which was federal funds for hazard mitigation planning. While the money is no longer there, the county is still required to have the plans in place. “If we don’t get BRIQ fundings we still have to update the plan,” Gellert said.

He said it remains to be seen how this will happen or if there will be changes to requirements. Currently the county is still in compliance right now and has until midyear 2026 on the current plans. It was noted that programs that were cut in some cases are coming back under different names. “Right now we are on hold,” Gellert said.