Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 14, 1995 TAG: 9508140104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Ditto for school Superintendent Len Gereau.
To them, Franklin County's predicament could best be represented by the Montreal Expos.
Salem, Roanoke, Roanoke County and other localities are the New York Yankees.
Read: Expos have a tight budget; Yankees don't.
Overton and Gereau say they're worried about a trend that's developed recently in the county: A growing number of their top employees are leaving to take jobs with neighboring localities for one main reason - the pay is better.
"We just can't compete with salaries offered by Roanoke County or Salem and some other local departments," said Overton.
Gereau says this is the worst year for employee turnover he's experienced in his 11 years as superintendent. Fifteen teachers have taken jobs elsewhere since May 1.
Several are special-education teachers who were hired by Roanoke city schools, Gereau said.
Kindergarten teacher Jeff Hodges, the county's reigning teacher of the year, recently took a job with the Salem school system.
"It's tough when you lose quality people like Jeff," Gereau said.
Overton lost one of his most valued employees to Salem as well - DARE officer Harry Clingenpeel, who has worked for the Franklin County Sheriff's Office for four years.
Clingenpeel will go to work for the Salem Police Department next week, Overton said.
Clingenpeel's departure didn't go unnoticed outside the Sheriff's Office.
"I'm sure these other localities realize the kind of person they're getting," said Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood. "But it sure would be nice if we could find a way to keep them."
Overton and Gereau say it's particularly tough to accept some of the employee moves when they consider how much time and money the county has spent to train them.
But both are realists.
"You can't try to hold someone back because they're trying to better themselves," Gereau said. "And we're a smaller, rural locality."
Said Overton: "These people have to think about their families."
In some cases, the employees who have left Franklin County are making as much as $10,000 more a year elsewhere, Gereau said.
To try to remedy the situation, Overton has made a plea to the Board of Supervisors to put his employees - deputies, jailers and administrators - on the county's pay scale. Overton would be the only employee excluded, because his salary is set by the state Compensation Board.
Switching sheriff's employees from state guidelines to the county scale would raise their pay and provide for a more equitable salary distribution.
A new hire now makes the same amount as a deputy who has five to six years of experience, Overton said. And a Sheriff's Office study showed that Franklin County has given its employees a total raise of 16 percent over the last five years while the state's increase over the same period equals 7.5 percent.
"Morale isn't very good right now," Overton told the Board of Supervisors at a meeting in June.
The board has yet to act on Overton's request, which he thinks will cost about $60,000.
Board Vice Chairwoman Lois English said the board will consider the issue at an upcoming meeting.
Gereau said he will ask to address the board in the near future about the division's loss of teachers this year.
Asked about the employee exodus, English said there's no way it can be completely cut off, but there may be ways to help control the number of people who leave the county.
But for Gereau and Overton, who take pride in the performance of their employees, the problem quickly is becoming a priority.
"I've never lost this many people so fast," said Overton, the county's sheriff for the past 20 years. "It worries you, because I may lose more. Where is it going to stop?"
by CNB