NORWICH – The Chenango County probation department announced Wednesday that it would be going through many changes in its staff over the next few weeks as its probation director, Laureen Clark, and the probation supervisor will be retiring.
Clark has expressed the urgency of getting the positions re-filled as quickly as possible as the current probation supervisor will be leaving at the end of next week. Clarke said they would need to have the position filled no later than Sept. 2.
County Supervisor Jack Cook, R-Greene, expressed concern that this would create a vacuum in leadership within the probation department and asked if the positions would be able to be filled in time.
“There are other members of the department that are ready to move up to these positions,” said Clarke.
She went on to explain that the current senior probation officer will be promoted to the supervisor position and one of the probation officers would then be promoted to senior probation officer. This would leave only one probation officer position to be filled.
However, Clarke did express concern about the timeliness of the moves and asked that the Safety and Rules committee make a recommendation to the Personnel committee to waive some of the rules that would delay the process of the promotions so the department could focus on replacing the probation officer position that would be left vacant. She stated that since the circumstances were so unique it had left them with very little time to resolve the issue.
The committee agreed, voted and the issue will move to the Personnel committee on Aug. 31.
“It’s difficult because we’re such a small department,” said Clarke. She went on to explain that the movement of these positions would result in a $4,000 difference in their annualized salary which would be needed for additional amount which would be added to the budget for training for the new positions.
Clarke herself will be retiring on Sept. 30 and explained that although advertisements for a new probation director have been placed, a suitable candidate has not yet been found.
According to personnel director Bonnie Carrier, the search for a new probation director is challenging because New York State requires a minimum of three years supervisory or administrative experience in a New York State probation department to be eligible for the position. Clarke said she believes they will find someone in time.
Clarke has been with the probation department for 30 years and has dealt expertly with the regularly increased state mandates in a cost efficient way for the county and has implemented them with as little cost to the tax-payers as possible.
“She also did a great job at working under tremendous financial and staff restrictions in addition to the physical space restrictions during her tenure,” said District Attorney Joseph McBride, who has been working with Clarke for the past 20 years. “She always worked hard to make sure her charges were supervised properly ... balanced community supervision with community safety ... she will be missed.”