SMITHFIELD—Isle of Wight County Sheriff-elect Mark Marshall reappointed 25 deputies out of 37 from outgoing Sheriff Charlie Phelps’ administration who applied.

The 25 were sworn in during a ceremony Tuesday in Smithfield.

Marshall, who defeated Phelps in the November election, said he didn’t want to say why 12 applicants from Phelps’ administration were not reappointed, calling it a personnel issue.

All applicants were subject to a background check performed by retired law enforcement officials, Marshall said, adding the deputies who were reappointed took a lie-detector test as well.

The department has 42 deputies, and Marshall said he is looking to hire nine more.

“Of the 12 deputies that weren’t reappointed, three were part-time positions,” Marshall said. “The money for those positions will be used to recruit other deputies. I suspect we will be advertising shortly.”

He said deputies are paid $34,000 to $37,000 annually.

“There are several employees who’ve been here for several years who make the minimum,” Marshall said. “There have been no increases in pay in several years.”

While filling the nine open positions is a challenge at the start of his administration, Marshall said, an aging fleet of patrol cars is another.

“The fleet is rapidly moving into bad shape,” Marshall said. “It becomes a public-safety issue because you can’t answer calls from the back of a tow truck.”

Deputies reappointed and new employees sworn in were Robert Barlow, Steven Borst, Donnie Brown, Ronald Bryan, James Clarke, Joshua Dixon, Anthony Edwards, William Fordham, Richard Gaddis, Randy Gardner, John Gilliam, William Gingras, Kimberly Gradine, Patricia Gwaltney, Anthony Hall, Joseph Hopko, Kimberly Leazer, Susan Morgan, Earvin Myers, Randy Patrick, Jimi Phillips, Timothy Phipps, Thomas Potter, James D. Pope, James W. Pope, James Stephenson, Jeffery Storm, Michael Tuck, Matthew Van Wassen and Joseph Willard.