Humboldt Co. Supervisors Vote to Rescind Layoffs

 
Close to a dozen Humboldt county sheriff deputies are feeling better about their job security.
This morning, the board of supervisors passed a motion that would save a handful of deputies from getting pink slips… news channel 3’s Cameron Cramer was at the meeting and has the latest…
And with that, the cutbacks facing the humboldt county sheriff’soffice became less severe, as the board of supervisors unanimously voted to reinstate eleven positions, including nine deputies.
What this will do is get us back to an adequate level out of the main station to put people back out into the field in more than just eureka proper." Said Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey
“We’ve worked hard to find every piece of money we could to get some of those absolutely essential position back in the sheriffs office." Said Humboldt County Supervisor Jimmy Smith
The board was able to restore the positions by using nine-hundred and fifty thousand dollars from ongoing restoration funds, including four hundred thousand dollars from expected revenues and two hundred thousand from sales tax.
Even then, the supervisors know the adjustment isn’t a cure-all, even with the restorations of some of those positions, the substations in Garberville and Mckinleyville will still be affected, and will be closed to the public.”
“We’ll still have deputies responding to the garberville station, they'll utilize the computers, phones, the office...but it won’t be open to the general public to come in and conduct business during the day.” Said Downey
Though the substations will be closed to the public, the deputies will still be patrolling, which is a positive for the board of supervisors.
“This is a step forward, it's taken a lot of work to find some funding to make this happen." Said Smith
Now the focus shifts to sacramento, where the supervisors say a proper budget needs to be passed.
“They need to give us the support we need so we can go back to our people in probation, the DA's office, the public defender, the sheriff's office and tell them with some assurance that we know we're going to get the block of funding we know for Humboldt county.” Said Smith