6/24/25 Council Meeting [118:19-123:20]

Even if you fulfill the two marriage spots of a three-day officer response, I hit, we're talking almost $1 million. I've saved any 11 months. If that's not doing my part, I don't know what else you guys could possibly want out of myself and the sheriff's department. Everything you've said is impressive, very impressive. And I want to say thank you. It's still, we have this population today. We have the same amount of road miles today. And we have less than the jail. And so I try to get that fixed. I know the seriousness of calls is changed from what it was 20 years ago. But our population is less. Our calls for services are going up 10 to 15% every year. I think people are much more comfortable calling the jail now for more frivolous things. So you think you get some frivolous calls? There's no doubt some of our calls are frivolous, but we also can't just... Oh, I know. I know. Because for those people, they're not frivolous. And it still doesn't take into account. I mean, the amount of mental health, psych calls that we go on that are extremely dangerous, the amount of domestic violence calls, which all studies will tell you is the one of the most dangerous calls we go to, because you will learn immediately to dispute and then the other party will call you. They realize, oh, I love my hand. And then they attack you or whatever the case may be. So it's just... I get what you're saying. We may have less people, but the calls for service just keep going up and up. And people demand more and more. And as far as the jail goes, yes, we have less people, but even the jail inspector today said, when is the last time you did a staffing study? I said, the last time it was in 2019. And he said, how were you then? I said, we were below what they said we should be. And he said, you've not known them since then. I said, no, because for liability issues, or reason why I would probably do that, because it's not based on how many inmates we have. It's how many, all the area we have to cover over there, the responsibilities we have to do, and all those things. So just so many things that go into it. So I get what you're saying. The jail number is already down right now. That's an ever fluctuating thing. You know that calls for service are up. Population may be down, but our work is continuing to grow up and it's getting more and more dangerous. And my goodness. Look at how much other departments are paying people. And I get it. We can't compete with some of that stuff, but we, sure in the world, shouldn't be asking our officers to work for less, but do more. And also risk your life a little more because we don't want to give officers higher officers. So that's my spirit. Do you have some idea that you can give us some of what this is processing over time, and PTO, and this one, very top, the point you have to work? Yeah, so I mean, I can't give you the exact number one over time, because I didn't make it that way. We maintain, you know, last year, last year we stayed within our overtime budget for the entire year. And our overtime budget isn't huge. And we've been doing a pretty good job this year, but a lot of that has to do with, I mean, I don't like overtime. You know, my chief doesn't make overtime. And so we try to do that stuff. And I'm not gonna lie. PTO time. It works for most of the county employees and officers. PTO time is not super great for the sheriff's department as far as manpower because, you know, it's probably easier. It's probably easier to manage sick time and things like that. As it is, to just say you've got 20-something days, you can take off, you know, for the year. And so, you know, we don't work Monday through Friday. We're trying to cover 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So, yeah, our overtime costs are really bad, but we work really, really hard at, that's why you're running some two-man shifts, you know, two officer shifts. And that's why we're trying to cover as much as we do, because, again, it goes back to trying to be physically sound, but, you know, sometimes I feel like I'm killing myself to save the county. I need that we don't always get credit for when we're a little higher people, but, you know, it's all we do. I know this is beside the point, I guess, but in 2023, my first year in office, I worked the April 1 of 364 and a half, eight hour days. Last year, I worked the April 1 of 339, eight hour days. So, that's 20-26 days off for the year, basically. And, you know, so, I feel like I'm busted, busted my rear end out there to try to save things, like overtime and things like that, so. The best thing you say when you're in the oil line, from what you need to press it in a budget in 2025,