Very disappointed in the decision to attack myself and staff are the words Plumas Sheriff Todd Johns used when addressing the Supervisors during the board’s May 9th meeting over the claimed facts presented the meeting one week prior.
During Department Head’s reports, Sheriff Johns read from a long script he had prepared in response to the accusations of the board that the sheriff’s department was suffering from critical staffing largely due to conflict with management. During its meeting, the board cited that a third-party investigator interviewed thirty of the claimed 51 people that left the department since July of 2022, claiming over 50% said they left over management issues. Yet to his defense, Johns said this is simply not true, saying through his records that only 28 people left in that time frame and that around 70 people had left under the previous administration of Sheriff Hagwood, who now sits on the board yet was not present.
Johns added that in an effort to hire and keep department heads in the county, the board approved pay increases but remains in negotiations with the sheriff’s bargaining unit despite being told the county’s audit should not interrupt their decision-making process.
Johns concluded by urging the board to move forward by working with him and not against him, as the last letter only showed divisiveness.
Photo: Sheriff Johns in front of Plumas Board of Supervisors May 9th, 2023
