Knox County Sheriff Daniel Weckesser told the Board of Commissioners at its June 25 meeting that his department is closer to full staffing with seven applicants in process for patrol and jail work.
"Right now we have four in the process, and if all four make it through, then we'll be plus one on the patrol side. We also have three in the process for the jail," Weckesser said, according to a video recording of the meeting. According to the video, Weckesser said job listings have temporarily been taken down from the county website with so many applications coming in. Too many of the applications were from non-certified applicants seeking certified positions. Commissioner Barry Lester said, as a manager he kept a job ad up all the time because he never knew who was coming to town or moving to town. The idea that people said it was bad for the company because it always looked like you were hiring was met with the reality that he always was hiring due to a large turnover. He said he hoped when the sheriff's ad runs, somebody lands on it.
According to the video recording, Weckesser said the maintenance team did a great job painting one of the dorms inside the jail with its graffiti. Fence work was completed at the gate, the tower and the recreation area, with new razor wire installed on top. SAS completed its work at the jail and on the camera systems. One of the cameras will be moved back into the evidence room. A fire panel will be replaced at the jail.
Weckesser said in the video recording that as of June 21, there were 15 females and 64 males incarcerated at Knox County Jail. His office also replaced three unmarked vehicles that reached their end of service life, having been purchased in 2015.
