County May Require Volunteer Screening

DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners along with County Risk Manager Andrew Woods and Prosecutor Rea Culwell have been working for months on a policy for screening volunteers who assist with county functions and events, such as the annual county fair.

Currently such volunteers – who might help out in any department from public works (fairgrounds or golf course, for example) to public health and emergency management – are not screened through a background investigation. All county employees are screened.

Monday, at the commissioners’ regular workshop, Woods presented a draft volunteer screening policy that would require all county volunteers to submit to a background investigation conducted by the sheriff’s office or another entity should the sheriff’s office be too busy, Woods said.

Disqualifications for volunteering would including felony offense findings on the background check – if the person was found guilty or has pending charges – including drug offenses, most serious offenses, serious violent offenses, sex offenses, domestic violence, any offense that included a firearm, deadly weapon or law enforcement enhancement, and nonviolent offenses such as animal cruelty, indecent exposure, prostitution, and other felony offenses.

The draft policy included a section on disqualification based on some misdemeanor findings as well, such as those involving drugs or alcohol; however, the commissioners decided Monday to remove the language that made misdemeanor findings a disqualifying factor for volunteering. Misdemeanor offenses do not disqualify candidates applying for regular county employment.

“How can we put more restrictions on volunteers than we do on employees?” asked Commissioner Dwight Robanske. The other commissioners agreed after discussing the matter with Deputy Prosecutor Dale Slack, who was present at the meeting and stated that dropping misdemeanors from the policy presented relatively low risk of liability to the county.

“It’s a balancing act,” Commissioner Merle Jackson said. “We don’t want to limit the number of people who can volunteer, but we don’t want to assume any liability either.”

The policy is still under revision and will go before the commissioners for a final decision before being enacted as county policy.