CLEARFIELD – A temporary county employee hiring freeze was a topic of discussion and action at Tuesday’s Clearfield County Commissioners meeting.
The topic came out of the current state budget impasse facing legislators in Harrisburg and state-reimbursed county employees.
Commissioner Chair Joan Robinson-McMillen entertained a motion that, starting today (Aug. 25) and until Oct. 1, a hiring hold will be in place on all county government jobs.
John Sobel made the motion, and McMillen seconded it. They voted to approve the motion, while Commissioner Mark McCracken voted against it.
McCracken questioned whether the motion could specifically be tailored to put a hold on all state-reimbursed county employee jobs.
He added that the county’s current budge is in good order.
“I don’t want to hold up things at the county level because the state is breaking the law,” said McCracken. “I think we’re tying ourselves up.”
McCracken stated after the meeting that the last state reimbursement came in July.
Sobel stated that the commissioners needed to be uniform and consistent with their decisions.
After the meeting McMillen told the press that if resignations occur within the county government system, no department is so lean they could not go the 30 days without filling it. She indicated that the county will revisit the issue in late September, early October.
The commissioners also announced that an overtime freeze had been enacted on county government employees. Excluded from that freeze are the Children, Youth and Family Services Department and the Clearfield County Sheriff’s Department, due to safety reasons and the services they provide.
