Nov. 4—The Davison County Commission on Tuesday approved new hires and promotions in both the Davison County Sheriff's Office and the county jail, bringing the two entities back to a fully staffed roster.

The Davison County Sheriff's Office has worked to backfill positions since former-sheriff Steve Brink's retirement in April left the department with an opening. After serving as acting sheriff for nearly four months, Steve Harr was named full-time sheriff in August.

Harr's appointment left an opening for the chief deputy position, which was filled in September by Tim Reitzel, who has over 15 years of service in county law enforcement. Reitzel's promotion left the sheriff working to fill his deputy position, while also seeking a candidate for a court deputy.

In the September meeting of the Davison County Commission, Harr teased that he had an idea to fill all his positions. Now, at the commission's meeting on Tuesday, he revealed his plan worked out.

"We were already hiring for a court deputy," Harr said. "We were able to fill our court deputy position and our civil deputy spot — both our guys came out of the jail."

The sheriff's office sought approval from the commission for the hires of Trestin Jerke for the civil deputy position and Kyle Bice for the court deputy position.

Trestin, who grew up in Ethan and now lives in Mitchell with his fiancée and three daughters, has worked in the Davison County Jail since 2019. Before that, he attended school for medical and fire rescue and served with the Ethan Fire Department.

"I've worked a few community jobs, but law enforcement is the route I wanted," Trestin said.

Bice, who moved to Lake Andes after high school, moved back to Mitchell in 2019 to attend Mitchell Technical College for powersports. Working in the jail since he moved back, he realized law enforcement was his calling.

"I found out I liked (powersports) more as a side hobby, and got back into my original goal of law enforcement that I started at the jail," Bice said.

The commission unanimously approved both hires, with wages to be determined. Trestin began his position Wednesday, while Bice is slated to begin on Nov. 15.

After Harr's business concluded, Davison County Jail Administrator Don Radel addressed the commission to fill an open sergeant position.

"Between (Davison County human resources manager Tonya Meaney) and us, we've advertised online and got five responses," Radel said. "We followed that up with an email and phone calls to take it to the next step — no takers out of those five."

After accepting applications and taking a look at promotion from within the jail, Radel asked the commission to promote corrections officer Sean Jerke, to sergeant.

Sean, who is Trestin's father and a board member of Ethan School District, has worked as a corrections officer for over two years and has previous supervisory experience, according to Radel.

Though the promotion comes with a wage increase already, after a "successful timeframe" as a sergeant, Sean would be eligible for an additional 50 cent wage hike. Radel did not say how long the timeframe would be.

"That would bring him up in line with the other two current sergeants we have," Radel said.

Sean's promotion was approved unanimously by commission, and will begin his role as a sergeant Oct. 30. He was not present at the meeting.

Harr and Radel both submitted employee reclassification requests, as well. One sheriff's deputy, who Harr suggested may be edging toward retirement, submitted a letter of resignation, but requested he be kept on payroll as a part-time employee. A corrections officer also requested to be reclassified from part-time to full-time. Both requests were approved.

Harr and Radel told the Republic after the meeting that despite multiple personnel changes and employee reclassifications, both the sheriff's office and the county jail are now fully staffed.

The comments come as Radel estimated inmate populations in the jail have dropped significantly. In September, Harr told the commission that the jail was so full, it had to turn away inmates from other counties. Radel said Tuesday numbers have dropped from the 60s into the 40s.

Harr and Radel were not immediately available Wednesday to discuss what impacts county law enforcement saw during periods of understaffing.