Sheriff: Additional deputy needed

Jones County Sheriff Greg Graver said he regrets not pushing harder in past years to add another sheriff’s deputy to his department’s roster. 

So, this year he’s changing course. 

Graver told the Jones County Board of Supervisors at one of three budget meetings last week that it’s time to add another deputy to the department’s patrol division. 

Graver said the need for this additional deputy has existed for several years -- and the position has been included in previous sheriff department budgets. He said his deputies have begun voicing their displeasure at the fact that the position remains unfilled. 

A departmental meeting in the fall hit Graver hard. 

“Last fall we had a deputies meeting,” Graver told the Supervisors. “We try to get together every 4-5 months to talk over things, and that (fall meeting) was one of the most uncomfortable meetings I have been to, because they, again, expressed anger and frustration in us not filling that position now entering three years.”

Graver said he understands budgetary constraints felt by the county, especially recently as the county navigates levy caps put in place by the Iowa Legislature. These restrictions prompted the Supervisors to ask departments to budget for 0% expense increases in past years as well as this current year. 

Graver said new hirings in other county departments seem to have negative optics in the eyes of his deputies. This, he said, prompted him to push for the new deputy to be hired in fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1. 

“The last thing you want (to think) as an employee is that your boss doesn’t care. Am I rolling over giving up (on the new deputy) because I don’t care? Obviously not. Or, the optic (to the deputies) is that the (Supervisors) would rather fund other departments and other offices who are complaining about being busy, yet here we are out there dealing with a bunch of crap in dangerous situations, and our staffing level isn’t where it should be. And so, the board doesn’t care about public safety. We know that’s not the answer, either. 

Graver said he wishes he’d filled the deputy position “a couple years ago and then sustained it” through the recent lean budgetary years. 

County Attorney Kristopfer Lyons backed up Graver’s proposal, adding that he, too, believes the county needs to add another deputy to its ranks. 

“We both respect each other,” Lyons said of he and Graver at the Friday Supervisors meeting. “I am here because of that good relationship. It is unbecoming for any deputy to come to me and say, ‘hey, you need to help us out. We want this deputy.’ And that happened here. This is a position that a county of our size needs.”

A new deputy would increase the sheriff’s department roster to 12. 

Graver said there are currently no instances -- save for a few hours on third shift -- where a deputy is working alone. Most often there are at least two deputies patrolling Jones County’s roadways -- as long as all his deputies are available.

“You never want a deputy working alone,” Graver said. “We are small enough that when we have veteran officers who take vacation, I’m staying out, our chief deputy is staying out, just to provide that coverage. That’s been going on for a while.”

Graver said having longtime deputies on staff is a benefit for institutional knowledge, but added that as they gain tenure and years of experience, their allotted personal time accumulates. 

“We want them taking that time off,” Graver said. “There’s really no overlap and backfilling that is going on (to fill shifts while this personal time is used).”

Graver said his deputies have his unconditional support and admitted that the optics of not hiring another deputy yet “have not been good, and I regret that.”

This, and more, will be considered by the Board of Supervisors over the coming weeks as they analyze the county’s revenues and hear spending proposals from department heads across the county. Graver was among the many who proposed his department’s fiscal year 2027 budget. 

Additional budget items:

• Graver said he would like to install a vending machine somewhere in Monticello to distribute Narcan, an opioid reversal drug used to block opioid overdoses. 

“Monticello is where our opioid-related overdoses and deaths have been,” Graver said. “We’d look (to put it) somewhere in the main street area. Also, Mount Vernon has a machine outside their grocery store and that machine is used more than any other in Linn County. It costs a little more (to have a machine outside), but I think that might be a good option (too).”

• The sheriff’s department will be looking to purchase a second K9 unit this year. 

“We have enough donations to support the program,” Graver said, adding that he plans to allocate $15,000 toward the buildout of a patrol vehicle to house a K9. “We will also have a deputy trained and will also need to purchase a dog, which includes the training, and costs around $40,000.”

• The van used to transport Jones County inmates is in rough shape, Graver said. It often sits parked because it is “mechanically it has been deemed unsafe to transport prisoners. It has been sitting rotting,” he said. 

A new van would cost around $160,000, he said, adding he doesn’t support spending that kind of money on a transport van. Chief Deputy Brian Eckhardt is shopping for a used van instead that the department can renovate to fit its needs. 

“I have set aside $60,000 to help purchase that, but we also decided there is almost $50,000 in my commissary (jail) funds, which have a limited used, but one of those uses is that it can be used for upfitting and equipment,” Graver said.