By Tim Weideman, Manhattan Mercury
Riley County Commissioners approved a request Monday from Community Corrections to continue using as-needed on-call juvenile intake staff in 2025.
The department has already been bringing in an additional person to cover on-call needs on Fridays for Juvenile Intake and Assessment Services (JIAS). That person responds to law enforcement requests for assistance when a juvenile is taken into custody. Director Shelly Williams says Monday’s request also allows corrections to cover five additional days with fill-in staff for on-call duties due to training, sick time and similar leave.
“Allowing this to continue, really preserves the burnout that tends to happen in the field of corrections. As you know, we deal with difficult people every day and having the ability to not schedule this would be huge for the staff as far as burnout,” she said.
Four full-time staff members currently handle law enforcement requests for assistance Monday through Thursday. Prior to April 2020, the department was utilizing a fifth staff member.
“If they were to take on another on-call physician, that’s another day every four weeks that they have to block off where they can’t meet with felony probation clients and their felony probation client jobs is their priority,” Williams said.
She says 20% of a full-time staff member’s job is devoted to juvenile intake, which assesses juvenile offenders and children brought in by law enforcement who are in need of care in both Riley and Clay counties.
“High-risk felony probation does not start at 8 a.m., does not end at 5 p.m., and it’s not Monday through Friday,” Williams told commissioners. “As a result, it causes scheduling challenges.”
That’s why Riley County already has been using on-call staff to cover Fridays. Williams said this move, which is completely paid for with funds from the Kansas Department of Corrections, has reduced staff burnout.
However, the county commission never approved this staffing move. Williams said this step was missed because the decision involved state funds and saved money compared to having full-time staff cover Fridays.
“It actually saves us money,” Williams said. “We are being called out less. Juvenile offenses are occurring on a less-frequent basis than they have in the past, so we were able to reduce our total hours that we are being called out to the police departments, both in Riley County and Clay County.”
Williams went over the budget approved for 2024 and costs projected for 2025. This year’s budget includes 650 hours of on-call coverage. After stipends, the total cost of on-call and call out pay approved for 2024 is $28,608.
However, Williams added that an audit showed only 380 hours of coverage in 2023, so they project needing 420 hours in 2025. The total pay for those hours is estimated to be $26,431, a savings of $2,176.
Before the vote, District 3 Commissioner Kathryn Focke suggested in the future asking Clay County for assistance with personnel. Williams said Clay County has provided help in other areas affecting the budget, including office space and internet, but Riley County has never asked for help with staffing.
“I think if we’re providing services for them, then they ought to chip in,” Focke said.
