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Board takes E-911 job from new sheriff
Dispatcher enlists support to keep her position
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | Dispatcher Teresa Shelton talked with friends and supporters late Tuesday night while the supervisors were in closed session. In the first hour of Wednesday morning, the board voted to move Shelton from the sheriff's department to the county as the E-911 coordinator. (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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WARM SPRINGS - In the first hour of Wednesday morning, the Bath County supervisors voted to move dispatcher Teresa Shelton and the E-911 administrator position out of the sheriff's office and put them under the county administrator.
Shelton, who has been a dispatcher for 12 years, has served as the E-911 administrator since January. Newly elected sheriff Larry Norfleet offered Shelton a position as dispatcher on Nov. 20 and then, according to Shelton, he withdrew that offer in a letter dated Dec. 4.
The letter, received by Shelton on Dec. 6 via certified mail, said her services would "no longer be needed as of Jan. 1, 2008." Shelton said no reason was given and she characterized the dismissal as being for "personal reasons."
The matter was brought before supervisors during their public comment period Tuesday by Burnsville First Responder and school board member Joyce Hevener. She said Shelton was one of the best dispatchers local emergency services personnel had worked with.
Hevener quoted from campaign promises by Norfleet saying "anyone willing to work in his administration will have a job." She pointed out Shelton wanted to keep her job and urged the board to hold Norfleet to his promise.
Norfleet was in Richmond at a state training program for new sheriffs and was not able to attend the meeting. From Richmond Wednesday he told The Recorder he was disappointed the action was not tabled until he could be here. Norfleet said he had discussed the issue with a couple of supervisors, and had cleared his calendar for Thursday to be available to meet with the board.
"They knew I was going to be out of town," Norfleet said, and "they didn't give me a chance." He said he was and is willing to sit down with the board, but thinks supervisors should have tabled any action until his return.
Supervisor Percy Nowlin said Wednesday board members had felt considerable pressure to take action Tuesday night. The board went into closed session at 10 p.m. to discuss legal issues related to the retirement home and the E- 911 administrator position. The board returned to open session at 12:20 a.m. Wednesday morning. Within minutes, supervisors had taken action on the retirement home issue and voted to move the E-911 administrator position, with Shelton to report directly to the county administrator.
At the beginning of the meeting, supervisors had seemed prepared for a tumultuous evening as they moved the overflow crowd from Room 115 up to the circuit courtroom. When the first public comment period opened almost two hours into the meeting, chairman Cliff Gilchrest urged those attending to be civil and avoid name-calling.
And they were; Nowlin said the group was "extremely civil" and the "whole board was really pleased."
After Hevener spoke, Shelton's sister, Tracy Hall, read a prepared statement listing Shelton's duties and accomplishments with the department over the past 12 years. She said, "I'm here to support Teresa Shelton," and she urged the board to "reclaim the E-911 position."
When Hall finished her statements, she asked all those in the audience who supported Shelton to stand. Quickly and in unison, the majority - 40 or more people - stood. Only a couple of others spoke briefly and the public comment period. Nowlin noted almost every fire department and rescue squad in the county was represented in those supporting Shelton.
There was some question about exactly what the board had done and what "reclaiming the position" meant. County attorney Mike Collins was in the closed supervisors' session and said retiring sheriff Tommy Black had suggested the board "reclaim the position, move it back to the county."
Nowlin said the action by the board could start "a battle royal." The county currently pays for six positions in the sheriff's office, including two dispatchers. However, Shelton and county administrator Bonnie Johnson said Shelton's position is not one of those paid directly by the county.
Shelton said Wednesday she first came to the department as a dispatcher paid with federal grant money. Later, the county paid her position, but now she is a state employee.
Johnson said the state compensation board had agreed to allow Shelton to take on the duties of E-911 administrator. The expectation for the position being that it would become more administrative once the new facility was built and equipped.
Supervisor Stuart Hall, who serves as emergency services director, made the motion to move the E-911 administrator position back to the county and Shelton along with it. He noted Shelton had taken all the training courses on the new system and the county would be hard put to replace her knowledge on short notice.
Clifford Williams held the first E-911 administrator and, like Shelton, began as a dispatcher in the sheriff's office. Nowlin and others said Williams reported to the county administrator in the E-911 role though no one was clear by press time if he had also continued with some duties in the sheriff's department.
During discussion of the motion, supervisor Richard Byrd offered an amendment to "open dialogue with the new sheriff." Gilchrest said he "fully concurred with your (Byrd's) amendment for negotiations" and added he wished the board had "given ourselves the opportunity" to negotiate before taking action.
After the vote, Shelton pledged to "work professionally with Mr. Norfleet." Part of the remaining negotiations will be to figure out just how Shelton's position will interface with the sheriff.
Nowlin is hoping the county and Norfleet will be able to work together.
The compensation board pays for five dispatchers. To save money, the county has planned to use those five state paid positions in the E-911 center as the core staff. Those state positions would remain under the jurisdiction of the sheriff. Shelton, as E-911 administrator, could then end up in the position of being a county employee supervising deputies, since the dispatchers are fully trained and sworn in as deputies.
The worst case scenario could see the county eliminate the six positions currently paid for in the sheriff 's department with county money, leaving the department with a depleted transportation staff, said Nowlin. Only through cooperation with the sheriff, he added, can the county minimize the number of employees required to bring E-911 to the last county in the state without such a service.
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