Board Authorizes Filling of 2 Openings

Ventura County supervisors Tuesday agreed to allow the auditor-controller and the county’s building and safety department some exemptions to a recently imposed hiring freeze.

But although the supervisors authorized Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon to hire one part-time data entry operator, they rejected his request to fill seven vacant full-time positions.

The supervisors said Mahon would have to wait until a new county budget is adopted in July before bringing his proposal back to the board.

Also Tuesday, the board granted a request from the county’s Resource Management Agency to hire a director for its building and safety division, which is responsible for enforcing building codes on new construction. The board agreed that the position was critical to public safety.

Faced with a $46-million budget deficit, supervisors voted last month to impose a hiring freeze on most county departments. Public safety, and health and social services were automatically exempted.