Cabarrus County officials told the Board of Commissioners that a new state requirement will require fingerprint-based State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) criminal-history checks for applicants offered positions that involve working with children, effective Oct. 1.

County HR staff said the law (identified in materials as GS153A-94.2 and the SBI authorization referenced as GS 143B-1209.26) expands the set of hires who must receive fingerprint checks. Ashley Dobbins, HR director, told commissioners the checks must be “conducted in accordance with GS 143B-1209.26” and that the county already runs several background searches but will add the SBI fingerprint-based check for designated positions.

Why this matters: The change will increase hiring costs and administrative steps for applicants who would supervise, transport, interview, teach, coach or otherwise care for people under 18. County staff estimated the change would affect dozens of roles across departments and require a small budget increase for the fingerprint fees.

County staff outlined the expected scope and cost. Dobbins said local positions likely affected include parks and recreation, EMS, library staff, social workers in Health and Human Services and positions in soil and water and cooperative extension depending on duties. For Cabarrus, the initial review identified roughly 12 positions in Active Living and Parks, one in Cooperative Extension, 14 in EMS, about 21 in Health and Human Services, one in Legal, 14 in Library, and four in Soil and Water. Dobbins said those position counts reflect staff slots (for example, the paramedic classification has about 21 paramedics countywide).

Dobbins described the process: an applicant offered a designated position will be fingerprinted at the sheriff’s office; the sheriff’s office has offered to waive its $10 fingerprinting fee for county applicants, but the SBI check itself will cost $38. County HR will continue to run its current background check (about $18.50 on average) because SBI results only report charges tied to fingerprinting. Dobbins said current SBI turnaround for the sheriff’s office is about a week and staff will work to accommodate out-of-town applicants.

On cost, Dobbins said a lookback to fiscal year 2025 hires showed about 158 employees were hired into qualifying roles and recommended increasing the background-check budget by about $6,000.

Commissioners asked about scheduling fingerprint appointments without disrupting the sheriff’s public appointments; Dobbins said the sheriff’s office expects to accommodate the county’s applicants within existing appointment slots.

The board moved the item to the consent agenda for the regular meeting. Dobbins said the county will continue refining implementation details and return with any related budget adjustments.