Jul 20, 2024 By Mike Jones 5 min read

Washington County is merging its juvenile probation and adult probation offices into one department, which court officials hope will bring more efficiency to the agencies.

The consolidation of the two separate offices into one department is expected to save the county about $100,000 a year while allowing the employees who were already doing similar jobs to work in concert with one another.

The salary board – which consists of Commissioners Nick Sherman, Electra Janis and Larry Maggi, along with President Judge Gary Gilman and Controller April Sloane – voted during its Thursday night meeting 4-1 in favor of the changes, with Sherman being the lone dissenting vote.

Gilman said the merged departments will allow for some cross-training between the offices, along with internal administrative efficiencies. He added that more grant money may be available through the combined services.

“These are two offices that have the same mission,” said Gilman, who made the motion and helped to design how the plan will work. “Although they have different statutes that apply to them, the probation offices have the same job to ensure people are integrating better into their community.”

The offices supervise adults who are out on bond or on probation after serving jail time, along with children who are going through the juvenile court system.

The change was made possible following the departure in March of chief juvenile probation officer Amanda Gallagher, who took a deputy chief position in Allegheny County. Her vacant position was eliminated and Chief Adult Probation Officer Jon Ridge will now slide into the role of probation services director leading the two departments under one umbrella. As part of the change, his salary was increased from $100,097 to $112,500.

“Combining both offices does allow the court to leverage more efficiencies between the offices,” Court Administrator Patrick Grimm said. “It eliminates an artificial barrier between the two probation departments. They have the same mission overall, but just serve different populations doing it.”

Grimm said increases in pay for certain roles – especially in management – will hopefully help retain people in key positions rather than losing them to other counties or federal agencies. He noted they have lost several employees in the probation office over the last 18 months due to more competitive job offers elsewhere.

“We hope we can stop that flow of talent leaving our county,” Grimm said.

Gilman also pointed to the cost savings and greater efficiency in the probation department.

“What happened (Thursday) was a good business decision,” Gilman said. “We’re able to save money and retain talent under the new structure.”

But not everyone is happy with the decision to merge the departments.

Sherman, who attended commissioners and salary board meetings through video conferencing due to recently contracting COVID-19, voted no because he was concerned about the pay scales of some of the updated management positions. In a phone interview Friday morning, Sherman pointed to the creation of four deputy chief probation officers positions that will have an annual salary of $96,660 in the first year.

“My job is to protect the taxpayer,” Sherman said. “And with respect to probation, some of them do a really good job, but for what the position is, it’s bloated and completely out of range for what they’re paid.”

He also took exception with Sloane’s vote on the salary board since she is facing felony animal cruelty charges and being monitored by the county’s Adult Probation Office while out on $150,000 cash bond as she awaits trial in September.

“I think it was highly inappropriate that we let April Sloane to vote on this when she’s being actively monitored by probation and the county while out on bail and could be sentenced by the court,” Sherman said of the judicial phase should Sloane be convicted at trial. “She should’ve recused herself because I feel like this was an attempt to curry favor with the court that could be sentencing her.”

Maggi, who is a fellow commissioner, disagreed and thought it would be a move that ultimately saves the county money this year and in the future. He added that it will help address staffing shortages, streamline transports and help with on-call responses and warrant services.

“President Judge Gary Gilman and the county judges, who have jurisdiction over the probation offices, came up with a plan to save tax dollars and to better operate the adult and juvenile offices,” Maggi said in a written statement released after the vote Thursday. “This merger will save Washington County $90,000 and will allow for the offices to operate more efficiently while keeping our probation officers safe.”

There are now 96 employees in the probation office, down one with the elimination of the juvenile probation chief. The changes go into effect immediately, although the vote states they will begin on July 28, which is due to the county’s paycheck and billing cycle.