Benton County supervisors approve collections hires, salary adjustments and sheriff's personnel changes

Benton County supervisors on Wednesday approved a package of personnel actions that formalize a new hire in the collections office and multiple staffing adjustments in the sheriff's office.

Ray introduced new collections hire Carly Schwarb and explained the resolution acknowledges Kelsey Robbins as collections manager, hires Schwarb as a collections officer and adjusts salaries for two existing paralegals so the office can offer a competitive wage. "I have with me today Carly Schwarb who is a new employee for the collections department," Ray said, adding that the salary changes keep paralegals aligned across the office.

Supervisors confirmed the changes will be covered within the current budget and that the reassignments should save money going forward; the board moved to approve the measure identified in the meeting as resolution 2645 and adopted it by roll-call vote.

The board also approved personnel items in the sheriff's office. Members authorized changing Richard Stallman from full-time to part-time status in line with the statutory maximum age for peace officers and approved the promotion of Richard (Rick) Devorski to investigator/detective effective June 3 under a separate resolution. The board acknowledged a separation of employment for another sheriff's-office employee.

Each of the personnel items was moved, seconded and approved by roll-call. Supervisors recorded affirmative votes during the meeting; no member opposed. Meeting materials and on-the-record comments indicated the actions are internal staffing and classification changes rather than new budget requests.

The board concluded these agenda items with routine administrative discussion and moved on to other calendar business. The meeting adjourned after votes on the listed resolutions.