SUNBURY - Three supervisor positions at Northumberland County Prison will not be filled, but contrary to earlier reports by the prison board, nobody will be losing their jobs.
In a move that is expected to save the county approximately $135,000 in salaries and benefits, the prison board has granted permission to Warden Roy Johnson to retain Brian Wheary as operations commander, demote operations commander Dennis Hendricks to lieutenant, lieutenant Theresa Nowroski to sergeant and sergeants Jason Carl, Michael Walburn and Laura Grissinger to part-time correctional officers.
All the changes are effective Monday.
All management personnel at the prison are non-union employees, while correctional officers are union positions, which means Carl, Walburn and Grissinger will become union employees.
"The bottom line is three supervisor positions will not be filled," Johnson said Wednesday. "We will be cutting 120 hours per week and three benefit packages. We will not be adding any correctional officers to the staff because the sergeants who are being demoted to part-time correctional officers will be filling three vacant correctional officer positions."
Johnson added, "I think restructuring the staff this way will have the least impact on the overall operation of the prison and be the least offensive way to do it. We will still have good, quality, trained employees to function safely and efficiently."
Although the positions will not be filled, Johnson pointed out that they have been eliminated, an action that would require approval from the county salary board.
The warden said retaining all the officers rather than laying some off will allow the county to save money on training new officers at the Department of Corrections (DOC) Training Academy in Elizabethtown. He noted the county must pay $1,000 to the DOC for each officer who undergoes training for five weeks, plus the wages, benefits and travel expenses for five weeks and the salaries of fill-in officers.
The 37-year-old Wheary of Shamokin has worked at the prison since Dec. 20, 2004. His salary is $36,030. He was named operations commander/intelligence officer I on March 1, 2010. The 41-year-old Hendricks of Coal Township began working at the prison Sept. 19, 1988. He currently earns a salary of $40,575, but that will be decreased to $33,311 with his voluntary demotion to lieutenant. Hendricks' benefits will remain at $14,009. He was promoted to operations commander/intelligence officer II on Oct. 20, 2009.
The demotions of Nowroski, Carl, Walburn and Grissinger also will involve salary reductions.
Nowroski's salary will decrease from $36,057 to $28,754. She will retain benefits totaling $7,021.
Nowroski has been employed at the prison since July 9, 1984.
Grissinger, Walburn and Carl each earn a salary of $30,787 ($14.80 per hour). As part-time correctional officers, they will be paid $12.19 per hour and receive no benefits. As sergeants, Grissinger and Walburn currently receive benefits totaling $7,021, while Carl gets benefits totaling $17,630.
Grissinger began working at the prison on Nov. 1, 2010, while Walburn and Carl have been employed at the prison since Oct. 29, 2008, and March 31, 2008, respectively.
Johnson said there is no specific amount of hours assigned to part-time correctional officers. He said working hours are based on seniority and performance.
County human resources director Joseph Picarelli, who provided The News-Item with the salaries and benefits of the prison employees, pointed out the salary adjustments with the demotions are based on the pay for entry level positions.
With the reshuffling of employees, the prison will now have a warden, one operations commander, four lieutenants, two sergeants, 30 full-time correctional officers and 20 part-time correctional officers.
Johnson said the prison population has consistently been approximately 230 in recent weeks. He said there are regularly nine officers assigned to the first and second shifts, while six officers work the third shift. In accordance with a union contract that went into effect before Johnson became warden in July 2009, an extra officer must be assigned to each shift when the prison population exceeds 190.
On Wednesday afternoon, Commissioner Stephen Bridy, chairman of the seven-member prison board, commended the warden for cutting costs without having to lay off employees. "I am so proud of Warden Johnson and his efforts in continuing to help the taxpayers of Northumberland County."
Early last week, Bridy reported Wheary and Hendricks were suspended without pay in an effort to cut costs and reduce management level positions at the prison. He said the suspensions did not involve any misconduct by the commanders.
But at a Feb. 1 prison board meeting, Bridy and fellow commissioners and prison board members Rick Shoch and Clausi admitted that a mistake was made to suspend Wheary and Hendricks without pay. A motion was later passed by the board to correct the mistake and suspend the operations commanders with pay, meaning neither would lose any pay as a result of the temporary suspensions.
At that same meeting, the board unanimously voted to lay off Wheary and Hendricks, while granting Johnson permission to recall one of the operations commanders, while asking the other commander to accept a voluntary demotion to lieutenant.
The prison board also voted Feb. 1 to lay off a lieutenant and two sergeants.
On Feb. 2, Johnson decided to retain Wheary and demote Hendricks, but did not identify the lieutenant and sergeants who initially were supposed to be laid off in accordance with the prison board's motion on Feb. 1.
On Tuesday afternoon, Johnson identified Nowroski, Carl, Walburn and Grissinger as the personnel who would be demoted rather than laid off.