CLEARFIELD — Finding qualified employees to fill vacant positions in Clearfield County is getting critical for some county services, according to several department heads, saying the county doesn’t pay enough to keep workers.
Those department leaders, who recently took the issue to the media, said they’ve been trying to find a solution, but county commissioners contend wages are competitive and won’t listen to proposals.
Rick Redden, Domestic Relations Section director, recently called a meeting with local media, asking for help because the office is operating in survival mode.
Currently, the county commissioners are in negotiations with several labor unions and have refused to sit down with Redden and the county judges to discuss solutions to the staffing problem, Redden said.
The biggest obstacle for finding applicants is the salary.
“We are getting laughed at,” Redden said, when people learn of the starting wage — $14.40 an hour — for an enforcement officer. One employee, who has been with the office for six years, still doesn’t make $15 an hour.
The position requires a college degree, counseling skills and an extensive knowledge of the law. Other counties have been benefiting from Clearfield’s failure to pay more.
“We are training them, and they are taking them,” Redden said, noting that one employee left because his new position would have him making $12,000 more a year.
The DRS, a division of the...
ANKARA — US President Donald Trump made a series of “false” and “uncorroborated” claims about the Iran conflict and his foreign policy record during a recent press conference, according to a fact ...