LEONARDTOWN, Md. — The St. Mary’s County commissioners on Dec. 16 approved a multi-part staffing realignment requested by the sheriff’s office that repurposes existing vacancies into permanent positions aimed at strengthening reentry services, pretrial supervision and administrative operations.
Capt. Sarah Smith, speaking for the sheriff’s office, said the plan converts four vacant correctional officer positions and three current temporary part-time (or grant-funded) positions into a new structure that includes three offender reentry case managers, one mental health offender case manager, one pretrial case coordinator, a senior classification specialist, a full-time property specialist, and one administrative lieutenant. The lieutenant role would be a promotion from a vacant sergeant rank.
Smith stated, “It’s not an expansion of our current staffing, it’s a necessary realignment of our vacant positions to match our operational demands that are being placed on our agency right now.”
Smith said the changes would carry a net one-time information technology cost of $8,741, which the office will absorb within its FY26 budget.
She described several operational pressures driving the request, including increasing workloads tied to Public Information Act requests, court-ordered expungements, growing digital evidence demands, and the need for consistent day-reporting and pretrial supervision. Smith said many of the proposed positions formalize grant-funded or temporary roles that already provide essential services but lack long-term stability.
“Over the past several years, we’ve seen dramatic increases in our Public Information Act requests, our court-ordered expungements, our evidence in digital media needs, and the need for stable community-based correctional services,” Smith stated.
Commissioners discussed current vacancy levels, with the sheriff’s office reporting eight sworn vacancies and about 20 correctional vacancies, many of which are in conditional job offer or backfill status. Board members emphasized that the realignment relies on savings from existing vacancies and does not create new full-time positions. The commission approved both the staffing conversions and a related budget realignment by voice vote.
In a separate action, commissioners authorized two full-time contract deputy positions to support an additional courtroom the administrative judge’s office expects to open soon. Presenters said each courtroom requires a dedicated deputy, along with redundancy to allow for leave coverage. The two contract deputies were approved effective immediately to support the new courtroom and broader courthouse security needs.
Commissioners noted the potential impact on future budgets from adding positions while underscoring the county’s constitutional responsibility to maintain courthouse security. The sheriff’s office said it will manage training and background checks for the new deputies and expects the hiring process to take “three to six months,” depending on candidate certification.
You can watch the discussion here starting at 53 minutes and 39 seconds below.
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