Job freeze clarification

An account in last week’s Gazette incorrectly implied county commissioners had lifted a freeze on job re-classifications. At their Jan. 2 meeting, commissioners approved correcting of job titles submitted by the county auditor that were now misclassified due to the individual’s duties changing. According to Commissioner Art Swannack, there is still a freeze on classifications for county positions. Commissioners changed the misclassifications, but did not lift the freeze.

Commissioners chose to take no action on at least one of the auditor’s requests because they did not feel there was an argument as to why a change was needed.

“I’d be reluctant to approve this until such time as we have verification from HR (Human Resources) that the actual job duties pulled from the employee’s perspective and the department head’s perspective match,” Swannack said Monday morning during commissioner’s workshop.