Hire amid ‘freeze’ explained

GOLDENDALE — In the morning workshop June 30, Klickitat County’s Board of Commissioners discussed an application by the assessor’s office for hiring a field appraiser, another exemption to the county’s hiring freeze, and approved it formally in the afternoon. This follows five exemptions in February and one earlier this month.

In the formal afternoon meeting, Commissioner Lori Zoller responded to a public comment questioning the hires.

“I think it’s been a struggle for us, calling it a hiring freeze,” she said. “I think it was kind of a misnomer to begin with, and for me, it’s more of a conversation. If there is a gap where someone leaves? Is that a job we could forego?”

Chair Ron Ihrig said it was a necessary tool for long-term financial planning, allowing the county to review positions through attrition to avoid potential major layoffs in the future, even though the county was not currently in a deficit.

“If we don’t start paying attention now, we’re going to get down the road in three years and then we may have to have major layoffs,” he said. “I’d rather do it through attrition. My goal for this first year is just getting departments to ask themselves how they can do business differently.”

Inflation, he pointed out, goes up faster than county revenues, and stressed that the county was not running deficit, but it is using its cash carryover.

•••

Our journalism needs your support. Read more and subscribe at columbiagorgenews.com.