MONTICELLO  — The Sullivan County Legislature, in their meeting on May 15, debated time limits on hiring corrections officers before passing a resolution to authorize potential employees for the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Unit to receive credit for up to 10 years’ experience for retiree health insurance if they are hired within 12 months.

District 7 Legislator Perello raised the issue of a time limit for hiring transfers, at which time Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office Chief Hal Smith stepped up to clarify. 

“These are not transfers, these are people that, according to the officers [themselves], have been fired; according to the State of New York, they abandoned their job.”

Smith said he has no interest in hirees that left state employment five years ago; he wants to hire folks that have already applied to work at the Sullivan County Jail that have recently lost employment due to the prison strike earlier this year when corrections officers at 42 prisons across the state walked off their jobs to protest unsafe working conditions. 

“In my opinion, we’re not doing these folks a favor; in my opinion, they’re doing the county a favor because we’re filling vacancies and cutting down on mandations and overtime. We’re hiring people who actually know what it means to walk in the door into a jail and have a steel door slam behind them. We hire these 22-year old, 23 year-old, the door slams behind them, and they go, ‘Oh my God!’ And at some point, they move on somewhere else,” said Smith.

To answer the time limit issue, Sullivan County Manager Joshua Potosek said, “You could address it by saying apply within six months and hired within a year.” 

Perrello moved to amend the resolution by adding a paragraph stating “to be hired within a 12-month period,” and this was seconded by District 4 Legislator Nicholas Salomone. The board unanimously passed the amendment and the resolution.

Sullivan County Communications Director Dan Hust said Legislators want to incentivize corrections officers to come work for the Sullivan County Jail with matching pay and benefits commensurate with their experience as long as they apply within 12 months of leaving their last post.

MA-5/30-Corrections  Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office Chief Hal Smith discusses hiring corrections officers with Legislators