The Clark County Council approved a contract with the Clark County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild that includes a 10 percent pay increase in 2023, among other benefits.
The three-year contract, approved Dec. 6, also includes an additional 5 percent increase for guild members in both 2024 and 2025. The current contract was set to expire Dec. 31.
Acting guild President Sgt. Jayson Camp said the membership is pleased with the contract, and he thinks it will help make the agency competitive again in recruiting new deputies.
“The county really showed up and showed that they heard us and were willing to work with us,” Camp said. “It’s a win.”
Sheriff-elect John Horch said he also believes the negotiations will help the agency retain its current employees and interrupt the trend of deputies transferring to the Vancouver Police Department for better pay.
Camp said he’s also heard from some guild members who were considering retirement, who, with the new contract, have said they will stay. Some who have retired have also expressed interest to Camp in coming back, he said.
“People were doing lateral transfers to VPD left and right because all they have to change is the color of their uniform,” Camp said.
Camp said that while Clark County sheriff’s deputies will never make more than Vancouver police officers, because the city has a larger tax base to fund officer pay, the new contract makes the sheriff’s office’s pay competitive again.
Along with the contract, the county council also approved hiring bonuses of $10,000 for new deputies and $25,000 for deputies who are already certified, which was backdated to June 1. That matches the bonuses offered by the Vancouver Police Department.
The contract also includes a $2,000 retention bonus for employees hired before June 1.
Horch said the county had to play a bit of catch-up with the new contract after wages had fallen too far behind comparable agencies. While the contract brings them back in line, he said the county can’t allow the sheriff’s office to again fall so far behind anytime soon.
Camp said the agency has done a big recruitment push, which has been successful. Now, he said the agency has more new hires than there is space for them at the police academy.
The contract also introduced education incentives of 2 percent for an associate degree, 4 percent for a bachelor’s degree and 6 percent for a master’s degree.
Camp also highlighted a new specialty assignment incentive in the contract of 5 percent, which he said will help the sheriff’s office recruit detectives and those with specialty training.
In addition to the pay increases, Horch said the incentives should make a difference toward the agency’s staffing shortage.
The contract comes after the local sheriff’s guilds had previously criticized county leadership for staffing problems at the agency that they attributed to low pay and a lack of hiring bonuses. The guilds encouraged residents to reach out to their councilors to share their concerns over safety in their communities.
In response, county councilors noted pay was an issue that needed to be solved through collective bargaining.
“I will share that there is, and always has been, a great deal of respect for all county employees, including all employees in the sheriff’s office,” County Manager Kathleen Otto said in an email to The Columbian. “Additionally, as with many agencies, the county is facing a number of vacant positions due to a variety of reasons (e.g. retirements). We want to be an employer of choice in Clark County and are reviewing all aspects of county employment in an effort to enhance our ability to recruit and retain high-performing employees for all roles across the agency.”
