KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office continues to face serious staff shortages, and last night asked for help to fill vacancies.
They asked that bonuses they have been giving to new sheriff’s deputies and jail nurses be expanded to also entice corrections deputies, cooks and clerks to apply.
Undersheriff Michelle Greenlee says they currently have 27 openings at the county jail that have been vacant for some time.
She says having all those unfilled positions puts stress on the rest of the staff and makes it more difficult to hang on to the people they do have.
Apparently concerned by the request, several commissioners suggested they go beyond bonuses and reexamine the compensation package in the sheriff’s department.
Undersheriff Greenlee also proposed a new incentive that they call the “County Bounty,” a bonus for anyone in the department who successfully recruits a new employee.
Commissioners approved both requests from sheriff’s office as an interim solution but also promised to take time to look at the larger issue of adequate pay.
Money for the bonuses will come from an existing fund that the county board had already set up to incentivize new hires, using federal COVID-19 pandemic dollars.
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