The San Benito County Marshal’s Office will close at the end of
the year, but Robert Scattini won’t let the transition for his
office start before then.
”
Nobody is taking a thing from my office until my time is
off,
”
the marshal said sternly to the board of supervisors during
Tuesday’s meeting.
The San Benito County Marshal’s Office will close at the end of the year, but Robert Scattini won’t let the transition for his office start before then.
“Nobody is taking a thing from my office until my time is off,” the marshal said sternly to the board of supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting.
The board was discussing transferring the marshal’s office clerk to the sheriff’s office to help with the transition between the two departments once the marshal’s office – one of just three remaining in the state – closes at the end of the month. The board eventually approved the transfer between the departments in a 4-1 vote with Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz dissenting.
The transfer will take place immediately, County Administrative Officer Richard Inman said. The clerk will be allowed to continue to work with the marshal’s office until it closes but will work through the sheriff’s office.
Once the marshal’s office closes Dec. 31, its workload will be given to the sheriff’s office. The marshal’s office handles claims sent to citizens around the county, such as eviction notices and court documents.
The office handles nearly 200 claims per month, Scattini said.
Scattini, the marshal of the past 22 years, complained of the closing of the marshal’s office before it was officially shut down, and that it wasn’t legal for the county to eliminate the office without a vote from the county’s citizens.
The marshal’s office was an election-based job until the state passed an ordinance that shut down marshal’s offices throughout out the state, County Counsel Matthew Granger said. The county planned to transfer the marshal’s workload to the sheriff’s office earlier this year.
The marshal’s office was never given a chance, Scattini said.
“We’ve gotten little respect from anyone in the county,” he said. “We always took the runoffs. I have a car that belongs in the demolition derby. If I seem upset, it’s because I am.”
The item was pulled from the consent agenda after Supervisor Pat Loe questioned hiring a position into the sheriff’s office as the county is trying to save money.
Inman explained that it was a transfer of a position instead of a new hire – funding for the position would come from the extra workload of claims taken from the marshal’s office.
“They will get the additional funding the marshal’s office gets currently,” Inman said.
The sheriff’s office needed the employee immediately to train the worker on the office’s computer programs, Lt. Roy Iler told the board.
“We need to start training her right now,” he said. “Once all the marshal’s work come over, we need to make sure we are all on the same page.”
The board agreed to transfer the position after Inman explained that the layoff policy would take effect if the employee wasn’t transferred over immediately. If the board decided to put off the transfer, the employee, by law, would have to be issued a layoff notice and be given the capability to bump another county employee from the position.
The board created an ad hoc committee to make sure that the sheriff’s office allows the employee to work at the marshal’s office when needed.
“I’ll do whatever I can to make the transition smooth,” Inman said.
