He was one of 300, maybe 400 young men who reported to the West Virginia Police Academy in Institute to take the test to become a state trooper.
And, to his surprise, John Gruzinskas made the grade, attended the three-month training, and found himself assigned to the Northern Panhandle of the Mountain State in the late 1970s. His barracks was in Moundsville, a nice-enough town of 12,000 residents that, other than the ginormous gothic-style prison smack-dab in the middle of a crowded neighborhood, seemed like a pretty quiet place along W.Va. Route 2.
“But there were those rural areas, too,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about some of those rural places.”
Gruzinskas, who served as the sheriff in Marshall County from 2004-2012, earned $14,000 during his first year as a trooper, but now, more than four decades later, the compensation for a law enforcement officer has increased significantly. In fact, at this time deputies with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office are the highest paid in the Upper Ohio Valley.
And Gruzinskas, one of three Marshall County commissioners, had a little something to do with that fact.
“It was a unanimous vote, 3-0, with my other two colleagues voting the same as I did to raise the salaries of our deputies because we all share the same vision for Marshall County,” Gruzinskas said. “We feel that if our Sheriff is going to demand excellence from his deputies, we wanted to make sure that he a field of excellence to draw from. We wanted to make sure we could make it attractive for people to seek a job in Marshall County, and we feel we have done that with the sheriff’s office.
“We are very fortunate to have the industry and the tax base that we do in Marshall County,” he said. “This is just one of a number of different things that we’ve been able to do thanks to that tax base and that means residents throughout the county are benefiting from all of that industry, too. It’s all about the quality of life and making sure it’s one of the best in this region, and we believe we are getting there.”
Marshall County Sheriff Bill Helms currently has six openings for new deputies and those who pass the upcoming written and physical tests on July 9 at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office will receive a starting salary of $52,000 per year plus benefits and a pension if the individual serves at least 20 years.
“That maybe the best deal in the valley right now but you have to look at it objectively,” Gruzinskas insisted. “There are a lot of businesses out there that offer more money than what these deputy positions offer, and to some, that makes the difference. Sure, $52,000 is a very nice salary for a deputy in Marshall County, but there are other options.
“Things have changed over the years, and law enforcement is one of them,” he said. “Fewer people want those jobs these days for a lot of different reasons, but one of the biggest ones involves those other options. Law enforcement used to be calling, but I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.”
Across the Board
The pay increase is not only for new hires but, according to the county commissioner, was shared with the 27 deputies currently on staff.
“What we did with the sheriff’s office is give a base pay increase for all of the deputies, and a lot of those guys have been around for several years, and they are very talented law enforcement officers. That’s why we were delighted to be able to reward them for their service over the years,” Gruzinskas said. “We were also able to boost the pay for the 9-1-1 dispatchers, too, because they are as close to being first responders without actually being first responders.
“We just want to make sure that the services we provide to the citizens of this county are the best they can be, and the best way to make sure that’s the case is to pay them well,” he said. “Our first responders are asked to do a lot of different things in a very large area, so compensating them for that job just makes sense.”
The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office is budgeted, though, for 33 deputies and Helms is hopeful he will be able to fill those staffing holes thanks to the new level of pay.
“It was difficult to get people to come take the test when I was chief deputy under Sheriff Cecil, and it still is, so that’s an issue that’s not going away anytime soon,” Helms said. “So, I worked with the members of the Commission to see what we could do, and this is it. We’ve asked a lot of people what the issues are, and the biggest one seemed to be that there wasn’t enough money in it.
“There are a lot of pros and cons working in law enforcement. Trust me, after more than 25 years, I know,” the sheriff said. “But now earning a good living here in Marshall County can be one of them. That’s really all I wanted to accomplish.”
Crime and Criminals
Sheriff Helms continues to believe PTT Global America will construct its $10 billion petrochemical “cracker” plant, and that is why he considers what his department’s needs will be during three different phases of the project, all of which involve the population of Moundsville.
“Once they announce it’s a go, I can see the first influx of people moving in, and then once the site is ready, I suspect hundreds upon hundreds are going to need to find places to live,” he said. “The people in Beaver County told us to expect an extra couple of thousand people here during the construction so that’s really something to think about.
“Of course, we won’t know until the company officials make the announcement, and if it’s not them it will be some other company because the site is too prime,” he explained. “No matter what happens across the river, we have to be ready here in Marshall County and that means to have enough deputies to take care of the residents of this county.”
The “written” portion of the process actually is on a computer in the sheriff’s office on 7th Street, and the physical part takes place at John Marshall High’s football complex along W.Va. Route 2. Those individuals advancing past those two parts would then complete the process back at the sheriff’s office.
“The Sheriff has a lot of vacancies and that makes his job very difficult, trust me,” Gruzinskas said. “Sheriff Helms has tried many different avenues as far as trying to find candidates for these positions. He has recruited through the community college, through West Liberty, and through social media, so we’re all very hopeful that he will have a nice crowd for the test that’s coming up on July 9th.
“I feel for him because I’ve been there,” the commissioner said. “So, we have sweetened the pot with the compensation and the equipment that allow that job to be as easy as possible. We keep up on their vehicles, they have the best laptops in their vehicles, and we have the canine units that we need. When the sheriff’s office has had a need, we have responded as quickly as we can because we recognize how important our deputies are.”
