Apr. 23—MORGANTOWN — Monongalia County Sheriff Todd Forbes said you’d likely have to go back the better part of a decade—to the tenure of former Sheriff Al Kisner—to find the last time the sheriff’s department had a full complement of deputies.
But if all goes according to plan, the department will be fully staffed once again in the coming weeks.
The Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday approved the hiring of seven deputies, two of whom will move to the county as certified officers from nearby agencies—one from the WVU Police Department and one from the Westover Police Department, according to Forbes.
The other five new hires will be heading off to the West Virginia State Police Academy in August.
The end result, Forbes said, will be a force with a full roster of 41 deputies to cover some 365 square miles across Monongalia County.
“It’s a lot more boots on the ground, so it’s a great thing for the community. Our number-one goal is to be as efficient as we can and make everyone as safe as we can in the community, ” Forbes said. “What that does for us internally is it just takes a little bit of the stress off, because we still have the same volume of calls and same responsibilities, but now we can delegate that out to a few more people, so it makes it easier.”
Commission President Jeff Arnett said he believes the county’s success in both hiring and holding onto officers is due to a change in the pay schedule for deputies championed by former Sheriff Perry Palmer in 2022.
“When Sheriff Palmer, a couple years ago, brought us that request for an increased, incentive-based pay schedule that automatically triggers pay raises and retention bonuses based upon your years of service and rank, that really helped us, ” Arnett said. “Plus, our health insurance still can’t be beat, along with a fully-funded retirement program.”
Forbes concurred.
“The county commission has been really good as far as helping us get pay raises for these guys to get us competitive with everybody else, because we were really behind in that area for a long time, ” he said. “We’re at least in the game now. That certainly makes a big difference.”
The deputies hired on Wednesday will start at $4, 400.02 monthly, according to information shared at the meeting.
Five of the new hires will begin their tenure with the MCSD on May 1, with two starting May 16 due to military obligations. The job includes a one-year probationary period.
In addition to more competitive pay, Forbes also credits efforts from within the department to help combat the kind of staffing shortfalls plaquing other agencies.
“I think we’re very fortunate. Back before I was sheriff, Sheriff Palmer brought me on as a recruiting officer. Now I’m in my current role as sheriff and former Sheriff Palmer is doing that job, ” he said. “We’ve made a real effort and we’ve been very diligent in recruiting.”
Further, come July, two deputies currently serving in the county school system will be returned to the road as the MCSD replaces them with school safety officers.
“I think all our guys deserve immense credit going all the way back through COVID, ” Forbes said. “Sometimes I’m not sure how we even got through COVID with the limited number of people we had. This is going to make things easier on everyone.”