MAHONING COUNTY Laid-off deputies are recalled; force returns to full strength

Some deputies found other jobs before being recalled.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- More than 40 deputies who had been laid off from the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department returned to work Sunday. They were among 54 deputies who were laid off in March because of countywide budget cuts.
Five were brought back recently to fill vacancies created by other deputies who are on medical leave. Six did not return because they had found other jobs in the meantime or were unavailable to start work Sunday.
Sheriff Randall Wellington said the deputies' union contract requires that they be given 14 days' notice to return from layoff. They can start sooner, however, if they are available.
"With the exception of those six, we are back to full strength," Wellington said.
Inmate plan
The sheriff was able to recall the deputies because of a plan he worked out with the U.S. Marshals Service for housing federal prisoners in the county jail.
The federal government has agreed to increase the daily fee it pays the county for housing federal inmates from $67 to $77 per inmate. It has also pledged to house more inmates here, when possible.
The plan is expected to generate about $850,000 in additional revenue this year, which Wellington said is enough to cover the cost of the deputies.
The county budget commission amended the county's certificate of estimated revenue to reflect the additional income last week. County commissioners then voted Thursday to dedicate that money to the sheriff's department.
Wellington had said that if the funding wasn't approved and the deputies recalled, he would have begun shutting down parts of the jail to save money.
bjackson@vindy.com