After receiving numerous letters, reading dozens of articles, and listening to employee grievances, the Plumas Board of Supervisors responds to the community and Sheriff’s office’s cry for action to the public safety crisis.
In a statement made during the board’s May 2nd meeting, chairman Ceresola said because the supervisors have been unable to respond to comments made during public comment, they felt they had to do their homework and respond to the accusations that they have been unresponsive to the public safety crisis in the county.
The statement read by Ceresola opened that a third-party investigator had been brought in to address some of the Sheriff’s claims that staff was leaving due to low pay and poor benefits, citing interviews with 30 out of the 51 employees leaving the department since July of 2022, half said they left due to management issues.
Sheriff Todd Johns, in an interview, responded he believes the data shared at that meeting was inaccurate and was perceived as an attack on his office and staff. The Sheriff’s department had been through the wringer since Johns took the role of Sheriff, first with COVID, then a series of wildfires, back into COVID, and then the Dixie Fire that destroyed the Sheriff’s hometown of Greenville. Johns says his department was short-staffed, overwhelmed, and overworked through this entire time.
When the board’s response addressed the recruitment efforts of the Sheriff’s office over the last year, Ceresola read that findings suggested a third party should be handling the background checks, not the Sheriff’s office. It read out of over 20 applicants, not one was hired due to not passing background checks suggesting there is a problem with the process. To this, Johns said he will not sacrifice the background process as the county’s citizens deserve that level of security.
Johns says there needs to be a plan, and something needs to change. The relationship between the board and the Sheriff’s office is fractured. The department and board should work together to solve this problem, not tear each other down.
Johns said he will submit a public records request for the board’s report and respond to the supervisors next Tuesday.
The supervisors will hold thier next regular board meeting Tuesday, May 9th, at 10 am.
