Hiring Seasonal Workers Urged

Hoping to preserve summer jobs for lifeguards and others, Ventura County’s personnel director is asking the Board of Supervisors to exempt seasonal workers from a recently imposed hiring freeze.

Director Ron Komers said that the county employs dozens of seasonal workers throughout the year--including lifeguards, park workers, election workers and tax workers.

Komers said that the county spends about $95,000 annually to hire the temporary employees, who he said work an average of less than 750 hours. To help erase a projected deficit of $38 million, the Board of Supervisors recently approved a hiring freeze in most county departments.

But the board has agreed to allow the county assessor and tax collector to hire temporary help. Public safety and health and social service agencies were automatically exempted from the freeze.

Komers said he believes the board will exempt the seasonal workers because it will not cost the county any additional money. He said money for the workers is already budgeted by the departments that hire them.