Commission hires two probate clerks

By Danielle Wallingsford Kirkland

The Jackson County Commission approved the hire of two new employees for the probate office at a meeting held Monday.

In a three to one vote, the commission approved the hiring recommendation to hire Meghan Rhymer and Faye McBride as probate clerks.

Commissioner Mike Sisk voted no after asking several questions about the positions.

Sisk asked if the positions had been filled or if the office had been operating without the two employees.

Chairman Matthew Hodges told Sisk the vacancies were within the current organizational structure for the office, which includes five employees.

“These are two of those five positions that have been left vacated because people have left or transferred to another department,” Hodges said. “These two in particular, one person left service of the county and another person transferred to another department.”

Sisk asked Hodges if there was a need to fill the vacancies.

“I feel there is. The probate judge feels there is,” Hodges said. “Five is a minimal staff to have in that office. I don’t know if they could do it with anything else. We have reduced the number by two since we have been in office. This is to maintain the current level of staffing.”

Sisk said he was concerned about the cost of the positions to the county.

“The reason I question that is all I’ve heard is funding and I thought if we had been without these right here, you know, why is it still necessary that we’ve got to replace them,” Sisk said.

Hodges told Sisk that the money for the two positions were already in the current budget.

“There are no additional dollars,” Hodges said. “This is not additional, just maintaining the current staffing.”