'We’re a very transient society': Steuben eases residency rules for Sheriff, DA offices

The last time the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office offered a correctional officer exam, seven people signed up to take the test.

The Sheriff’s Office had eight open positions.

Hoping to boost recruitment and retention of county employees, the Steuben County legislature recently passed a pair of measures that loosen residency requirements for employees of the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office.

Under the new policy, full-time Sheriff’s Deputies can live within five miles of the Steuben County line, while corrections officers and part-time deputies can live in any bordering county. The change expands the potential pool of employees at the Sheriff’s Office to residents of Allegany, Livingston, Ontario, Yates, Schuyler and Chemung counties.

In a separate move, the legislature also waived residency requirements altogether for full-time Steuben County Assistant District Attorneys.

“It helps with our recruiting because all of the counties around us already had done it, and they were poaching some of our deputies. In order to be able to recruit people outside the county border, you have to be able to waive the residency requirement,” said Legislature Chairman Scott VanEtten, whose 13th District covers Caton, Corning and Hornby.

“It’s even worse for DAs and public defenders. We’re constantly getting poached by other counties. Some are willing to stay, others can’t look away from a pay bump. That’s why we did it for that office as well.”

Pros and cons of residency requirements

Steuben County Sheriff Jim Allard welcomed the change. While the Sheriff’s Office has yet to utilize the new residency policy in making a new hire, the sheriff expects it to help with recruitment over time. The deputy sheriff’s test was already open to residents of neighboring counties.

“If we’re going to test folks that live in adjacent counties, it would seem to only make sense that we would also hire those that live in adjacent counties,” said Allard. “I think that moving forward, anything we can do to make us a more attractive place to work, at virtually no cost to taxpayers, is a win-win for the county and for those that we’re looking to hire, especially if we’re looking for specialized skills and attributes that we want our deputies to be able to use here for the citizens of Steuben County.”

Others disagreed. A pair of legislators voted against the changes to residency requirements, including District 9 legislator Thomas Ryan, a Republican who represents Cameron, Canisteo and Thurston. Ryan believes that eliminating residency requirements for county employees does, in fact, come at a cost to local taxpayers.

“If county taxpayers are paying their salaries, I don’t like to see our money moving across the border and using our money to pay their school taxes, to pay for their police departments,” said Ryan. “If they want to work in Steuben County, move to Steuben County. You’re receiving our money. At least you will be paying taxes in Steuben County.”

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District 2 Democrat Steve Maio, who represents the City of Corning, also voted against the resolutions. Maio cited stronger community ties and lax enforcement measures in his reasoning against the changes to Steuben County residency requirements.

“I think there’s something to be said for having a vested interest in the county that you’re working for,” said Maio. “I think you can be more in touch with the residents of the county and it familiarizes you with the jurisdiction you’re serving. I don’t like that we do this on an ad hoc basis. It always seems like when it becomes inconvenient for somebody, we don’t care about the residency requirement anymore and we just do it on a piecemeal basis.”

VanEtten said the county is responding to changing societal norms in opening its doors to a wider pool of applicants. The chairman also noted that Sheriff’s Deputies have greater flexibility in taking home their patrol vehicles.

“We’re a very transient society anymore,” said VanEtten. “It’s not like it was in the 40s and 50s. People don’t live within five miles of their job. The deputies are in service the minute they come in the county, because they have their vehicle. It’s not like they’re not able to respond. They don’t have to come to Bath to pick up a vehicle and then go back to wherever the incident is. They’re responding the minute they’re within the county border. That’s why we didn’t have an issue with the five-mile buffer.”

Why Steuben County needs a larger recruitment pool

According to Allard, many other sheriffs across the state are having similar difficulties recruiting and retaining employees, particularly corrections officers.

Steuben County averages about a 10% turnover rate among full-time corrections officers, a figure Allard called “very difficult to sustain.” The sheriff cited pay disparities between state and county employees as one of the chief drivers of the turnover.

The starting full-time salary in Steuben County is $41,177 annually, bumping to around $45,000 after one year of service. The county offers a part-time wage of $19.79 per hour. The Sheriff’s Office is holding another corrections officer exam Dec. 11.

“Now we have the ability to put it out there that we are able to hire from outside the county,” said Allard. “Most of our hires want to live in-county anyway, it’s much more convenient for your personal life to be able to go home for lunch or zip home if you need to. Whatever we can do to make us more attractive in the recruitment of new deputies and peace officers is very important to us.”

Employees in violation of the new residency requirements are subject to termination.

The county removed all geographical restrictions when making the change to residency requirements in the district attorney’s office, which impacts a much smaller number of employees.

“We’re getting a lot of attorneys coming down from the Rochester area,” said VanEtten. “They’re good, they have a lot of experience. They want to get out of that area but they’re not able to move quite yet. That’s how we fixed it.”

Maio is open to a larger conversation on the utility of residency requirements for all county employees.

“My thought was make it the same for everybody except where state law requires it, and just do it all at once,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like we have any particular principles when it comes to these residency requirements. As soon as it becomes inconvenient for us, we don’t care.

“I think there should be a commitment to the place you’re working for, especially if you’re in that executive capacity.”

Chris Potter can be reached at cpotter@gannett.com or on Twitter @ChrisPotter413. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Steuben County residency requirements for sheriff's and DA's office