County considers SEKRCC rank, pay structure

Increased work loads and stressful working conditions have forced Southeast Kansas Regional Correctional Center officials to ask for pay raises for the jail's correctional staff.

SEKRCC Program Coordinator Jimmy Nichols addressed the issue of a pay raise with Bourbon County commissioners during Friday's meeting. Nichols cited, among other reasons, the 17 inmates from Linn County that the jail is housing.

"We have almost, not quite doubled our normal housing capacity," Nichols said. "As you guys have heard a million times, with that, we encounter a lot more trouble. It's hard to go to work every day when you work at a place like that. When you up the capacity, the work load is greater."

Nichols said that while he hasn't heard complaints from correctional officers, he has listened to suggestions about possible pay raises.

"Because we do have some of our people that have been down there 15 years that get a little disgruntled because of the pay scale," Nichols said. "I can understand that."

As a way of resolving the pay issue, Nichols proposed creating a rank structure within the correctional staff. The system would involve four different ranks of officers that would be based on the number of years served.

In the system, Nichols said, a new employee would start at the base pay for correctional officers. Then, after a year, he or she would be reviewed by the supervisor, who in turn would consider an increase in rank and pay.

"The first bump would be to corporal," Nichols said. "That's how most jails do it. The next one would be to sergeant, then you have lieutenant, then you have captain. That's how most jails do it as far as rank goes. I don't know about the pay or anything like that."

Each increase in rank would also include a raise in pay, Nichols said.

A pay raise could be a vital tool in keeping quality employees at the jail, Bourbon County Sheriff Harold Coleman said.

"We have two, three or four key people that we need to hang on to," Coleman said. "We need to treat them really nice. We need to make it fair."

Other reasons for the proposed pay scale include the quality of the facility in which officers work, Nichols said.

"If you take an old jail like this and consider what conditions these people are working in and compare it to a modern jail," Nichols said, "there's a big difference between what the people in Crawford County and the people in Allen County go through every night and what our people go through every night."

Bourbon County is in the planning stages of a complete remodel of the correctional center.

Commissioners said they understand the need for a pay increase and would consider the rank structure system. However, they said, they would like to see, in writing, how many employees would be involved and what the total cost for the pay raise would be.

SEKRCC officials were planning on presenting the suggested document to commissioners on Monday but were not able to do so.

Commissioner Bill Brittain also reminded the SEKRCC officials that an item in the county budget is in place to give county employees a raise in pay over three years. In addition to that, each county worker received a 3-percent salary increase. The county has budgeted for the raise, though salaries will not be officially approved until January.

Brittain said the correctional officers may already be set to receive a pay raise, which could possibly end up being more than what SEKRCC officials are suggesting.

"I understand that's a tough job," Brittain said. "We want to do it right and we want to have good people. It would be nice to get something in writing saying who would be what (rank) and what you're recommending for a pay raise. Then total it up, so we can see a total of what you're asking."

According to Nichols, preliminary reports show that, should the rank structure be implemented, one to three officers would become corporals, zero to two could become sergeants, one would be lieutenant and two would be captains.

Nichols said he hopes a satisfactory pay raise will be approved so other measures aren't needed to reduce employees' stress.

"We don't ever want to hit the option that it's getting so crazy down there, so stressful down there, that we just have to call Linn County and say 'hey, we can't help you'," Nichols said. "We don't want it to come to that."