Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Overtime In Sheriff's Office Is Examined

Nevada County is wrangling with overtime and comp time pay once again for the Nevada County Sheriff's office.

According to officials, the county paid all comp time in full in February 1999.

Since then officers have used some comp time and collected pay for other hours.

In December 2000 the Nevada County Quorum Court went into a possible illegal executive session to discuss the matters.

Deputies Hebb Sorrells, Larry Miller and Danny Martin, along with Criminal Investigator Wayne Kisselburg, were paid for some of their comp time in December.

Records show Sorrells, Miller and Martin were paid for 149 hours of comp time. Their comp time pay was $10.03 per hour. Sorrells had 450 hours of comp time left, Miller had 304 hours of comp time remaining while Martin had 566 hours of comp time left. These figures were as of the end of November.

Kisselburg, according to records, was paid for 137 hours of comp time at a rate of $10.94. He had 289 hours remaining at the end of November

Nevada County Sheriff Steve Otwell said during the regular meeting of the quorum court on Monday, February 12, that one of his deputies now had well over 700 hours of comp time.

December's ice storm and January's snow storm last year required deputies to spend a lot more time than normal working.

Otwell said he and his chief deputy, Wally Hulan, were taking a lot more late night calls, relieving the deputies and trying to avoid more comp time. They are both salaried and are not paid overtime.

Questions were apparently raised about Kisselburg's comp time during the December meeting, since he is the county's investigator.

Miller left the sheriff's office this month and went to work for the Prescott Police Department.

His comp time will apparently have to be paid in full when requested.

Otwell said he's watching the comp time more closely, especially since his office is one deputy short.

He told the JPs during the meeting February 12 that he had found someone qualified to go to work and would not require him to go through police training.

Otwell said last week that he was waiting a few more days before hiring this person as a deputy.

He said the person currently lived in Hempstead County, just a few hundred yards from the Nevada County line.

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown appointed JPs Willie Wilson Bob Cummings and Arval Mason to meet with Otwell as well as county attorney Joe Graham.

No date has been set for this committee meeting as of last Friday, though the meeting will have to be open to the public.