Sheriff Asks Commissioners to Hire Deputies | News, Sports, Jobs

photo by: Photo by Joselyn King

Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard addresses county commissioners Tuesday night.

WHEELING — Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard wants county commissioners to officially hire two new deputies so he can start a new round of testing to find more new hires.

Howard told commissioners Tuesday night his department is presently six deputies down, with four having just recently retired.

There are about 30 deputies employed in the department.

He has two prospective deputies ready for full employment, though they still must attend the West Virginia State Police Training Academy in Dunbar.

Howard said they have been receiving training since joining the sheriff’s department as probationary hires, but he can’t send their applications to the training academy until their hiring is officially approved by county commissioners.

Howard said he can’t get the prospective deputies into the next session of the academy that starts in April, but if commissioners approve their hiring soon he may be able to get them into the session that begins in August. The academy only accepts about 50 recruits at a time, and sessions are filling quickly as there was no training for a time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The next session at the academy likely won’t be until January, according to Howard.

Adding to the necessity is these two prospective deputies are the last two on his Civil Service list for employment, he continued. They must be hired or cleared from the list before he can call for a new test to accrue a new list of applicants.

Commissioners told Howard they couldn’t vote during Tuesday’s meeting to hire the deputies as the matter wasn’t on their agenda, but they agreed a special meeting could be called soon to address the issue.

In a related matter, Howard reminded commissioners there was a considerable amount of law enforcement grant money available at the state level that isn’t being utilized.

Howard sits on the state’s Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) board that directs much of the funding. In addition, he serves as vice president of West Virginia State Sheriff’s Association, and on the Courthouse Security Board.

“There’s money available. There’s a lot of money sitting there because nobody applied,” Howard said. “Everybody who applied got money, and we still had $500,000 sitting there.”

Commission President Randy Wharton said the county would be looking for money to do upgrades to the Sheriff’s Department annex next to the courthouse.

“If we could come up with that money from the state, we could enhance that building and maybe start moving in the right direction over there,” Wharton said. “Maybe we could bring some things that are in this building or other buildings over there.

“It’s a shame they have it (money) sitting there and nobody is using it.”

Howard said he would help the county “follow the guidelines” in applying for JAG funding.