08-03-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

Comm. Minutes--August 3, 1992 897 18. ranges was intended to reflect marketplace value for each salary range, therefore, from this point forward, all correspondence, financial records, charts and other information used in draft or final form by the Personnel Office, Personnel Overview Committee and the Auditor shall hereafter replace the word midpoint with the word market value. Discussion: Mr. Wieland suggested a 10-year time frame for comparing the status and growth of salaries and fringe, and the Auditor said he will search those records but may not be able to verify that because of time constraints. Mr. Eckert asked if the proposed increase will place anyone over the maximum for the pay range, but Judge Racek doesn't think any of the elected department heads would go over the market value, although one exception might be the Sheriff. At the call for the question and upon roll call vote, motion carried unanimously. JAIL ESCAPE, Report from Sheriff Donald Rudnick Sheriff Rudnick said the news media did a thorough job of reporting an escape from the Cass County Jail and the subsequent capture about two days later of a Federal prisoner, David Sterling, from Washington. Sterling was an inmate in the Cass County Jail while waiting for a hearing on a civil lawsuit which he filed in North Dakota. The Sheriff proceeded to give details, at the Commission's request, of Sterling's escape at about 5:00 PM on Monday, July 20th, 1992. According to the Sheriff, the deputy who was responsible for leaving a gate unlocked near the recreation area was fired after discussions with the Chief Correctional Officer in the Jail, the State's Attorney and the Personnel Department. One other deputy who was supervising the recreational activities left the area because of a disturbance in the parking lot adjacent to the jail, but before leaving the area, said he told the remaining deputy to lock the gate. At the time of the escape, the Sheriff said other jail staff were preparing for the return of work-release inmates, releasing inmates on bail and preparing for the evening meal. As soon as the escape was confirmed, the Sheriff said other law enforcement agencies were contacted, and the public was notified through the news media. He said he received the call about the escape at 5:30 PM. According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Mrs. Toussaint said the Jail manual needed updating and there was concern that it wasn't being followed. Sheriff Rudnick said he will be changing some policies concerning outdoor recreation and said the security system for the recreation area is sufficient but the problem in this incident was that the deputy didn't lock the gate and he lead the inmates into the facility rather than following them. He said jail staff are trained how to move inmates properly.