Saturday, January 25, 2025

Oconee County Commission And School Board Scheduled To Meet To Discuss Agreement On School Resource Officers

***Draft Contract Calls For Immediate Implementation***

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education have called a joint meeting for 6 p.m. on Jan. 29 to discuss a $1.4 million Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to put school resource officers (SROs) in the county’s schools.

The MOU calls for Sheriff James Hale to employ up to 16 deputies “as quickly as is reasonably practicable given the qualifications required of SROs and their availability” in order to provide one SRO in each of the 12 Oconee County School District schools.

The MOU will go into effect as soon as it is signed by School Board Chair Michael Ransom, Sheriff James Hale, and Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell.

The MOU calls for the Board of Education to reimburse the Board of Commissioners for 90 percent of the estimated cost of $1,391,282 for the remainder of the current Fiscal Year, or $1,252,153. The Sheriff’s Office is funded by the Board of Commissioners.

The cost for a full Fiscal Year, based on the current level of expenses, is $2,482,563, with the Oconee County Schools share at $2,234,307.

The MOU says that the county will give Oconee County Schools an estimate of the total cost of the program for the next Fiscal Year by April 1 of this year.

The agreement covers the remainder of the current Fiscal Year 2025 through June 30, of 2026, the end of Fiscal Year 2026, and is to be renewed automatically unless either party gives notice of intent not to renew 30 days prior to the expiration of the term.

The joint meeting on Jan. 29 is to be held at the Commission Meeting Chamber in the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville, and will be followed by the Board of Commissioners Town Hall Meeting.

Time Line Of Development Of MOU

On Sept. 16 of last year, the Oconee County Board of Education authorized Superintendent Jason Branch to work with Sheriff Hale “to develop a memorandum of agreement that would provide a comprehensive law enforcement presence at all 12 of our schools.”

Board Of Commissioners Agenda For 1/29/2025 Meeting

That decision followed the Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County that left two students and two teachers dead and seven others injured.

At the Oct. 7 meeting, Kevin Yancey, Director of Student Services at Oconee County Schools, updated the Board, saying he was continuing to meet with Sheriff James Hale to develop a Memorandum Of Understanding to place a school resource officer in the system’s 12 schools.

On Nov. 11, Yancey, joined by Justin Cofer, Chief Human Resources Officer for Oconee County Schools, presented the Board with a draft Memorandum of Understanding that they said had been sent to Sheriff Hale.

The Memorandum called for Hale to hire 12 specially trained and vetted officers in the next Fiscal Year at a cost of between $375,233 and $557,579 per officer, based on salaries paid deputy sheriffs.

Costs for the two school resource officers now assigned to the two high schools for the remainder of this school year was estimated to be between $62,538 and $92,929.

On Dec. 9, the Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding that called for assignment of one resource officer to each of the system’s two high schools for the remainder of this year and 12 deputies for the next school year “as they become available/meet training requirements.”

No costs were included in the MOU.

On the advice of legal counsel, Cofer told the Board at the Dec. 9 meeting, he and Yancey had added the Board of Commissioners to the legal agreement.

At that Dec. 9 meeting and again at the Jan. 13 meeting of the Board, Yancey said he also was exploring the possibility of the school system creating “a school-based police force” rather than have the Sheriff place deputies in the schools.

Announcements Of Called Meeting

Both the county and Oconee County Schools announced the called meeting on Friday afternoon.

Oconee County Schools Agenda For 1/29/25 Meeting

The announcement by the county linked to the agenda, which stated the meeting was to discuss the agreement for school resource officers.

The county on Friday also provided the draft MOU and financial details of the costs of the program.

The Oconee County Schools announcement gave no indication of the purpose of the called meeting, and the agenda also did not indicate what would be discussed at the meeting.

No draft document was linked to the agenda.

Financial Details Of MOU

The MOU under consideration at present states that Oconee County Schools agrees to reimburse Oconee County for 90 percent of “the total cost of the program,” including personnel costs, normal equipment and capital costs, “including such items as a car, radio, vent, uniform, and other normal equipment,” and “maintenance and operating costs of such equipment.”

Cofer, Left, Yancy, Center, 11/11/2025

The Personnel Services Worksheet provided by the county with the MOU shows 16 full-time positions, including a captain, a lieutenant, two sergeants, two corporals, and 10 deputy sheriffs, with salaries ranging from $81,016 to $65,726.

Personnel costs for the full year Fiscal Year 2025 budget show $1,100,858 in salaries, with $550,429 remaining in the current Fiscal Year.

Total personnel costs, including salaries, insurance, social security, medicare contributions, and retirement contributions, are listed as $1,928,243 for the full Fiscal Year, and $964,122 for the remainder of this Fiscal Year.

Total maintenance and operations costs are listed as $254,320, with $127,160 remaining in this Fiscal Year.

Total Capital Costs are listed as $300,000, with all of that in the remaining five months of this Fiscal Year.

Oconee County Schools is to reimburse the county in response to monthly invoices.

The MOU states that the SROs shall not be employees of Oconee County Schools, but rather “shall be Deputy Sheriffs in all respects...and shall remain subject to the same rules, regulations and human resource policies as any other Oconee County Deputy Sheriff.”

“SROs shall remain responsive to the supervision and chain of command of the Sheriff,” the MOU states.

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