Tuesday’s Kings County Board of Supervisors meeting quickly took care of business as the board took action on two items that could create an increase in employment for a couple of the county’s departments.
The first approved item concerned the county’s District Attorney’s office, a department that has worked hard to steadily increase its staffing after facing a staffing crisis last year.
District Attorney Sarah Hacker was before the board asking them to extend the abilities they implemented last year to continue to recruit and hire qualified individuals through to the new year. The strategies implemented last year for the DA’s office to promote staffing efforts included increasing salaries for current and prospective staff to be competitive with other DA offices in the area and throughout the state.
Hacker stated the changes permitted to her hiring practices over the last year have shown great success and that she is currently working to hire four additional local attorneys, all of whom have extensive experience in the field of law.
“They would be a great asset to our office,” said Hacker before the board approved her request.
The second department approved to expand its department was the county Public Health Department.
Rose Mary Rahn, the director of public health, received the board’s approval to add four positions to the department to expand the home visitation program. The positions included one Senior Family Resource Coordinator and three Family Resource Coordinators.
The home visitation program is aimed to provide resources and support to newly pregnant families to reduce the rate of child abuse and maltreatment of children, while inversely promoting preschool and kindergarten readiness.
The approved program will operate through the Public Health Department for a total of $297,694 for contractual services, benefits, and salaries.
Heat wave
The Kings County Fire Department issued a set of warnings for the public on Tuesday morning concerning the present heat wave and the Fourth of July.
Fire Chief Salvador Flores invited Emergency Services Office Manager Abraham Valencia forward to speak on the heat and how important it is to remain cool.
“The biggest message from us at the OES Office is community awareness,” said Valencia. “We don’t want this to catch us off guard. I know out in the community a lot of graduations are happening, a lot of outdoor events are happening, so we just want to make sure that we are spreading awareness of this heat wave.”
With temperatures set to be over 100 degrees, cities can choose to operate their cooling centers to provide relief to the community, and Valencia noted that the county operates a cool zone program that includes cooling centers at local libraries. Chairman Doug Verboon reminded the public to stay cool and stay hydrated.
Flores also told the supervisors that campaigns for Independence Day safety would begin soon via social media and other public outreach methods to promote the use of safe and sane fireworks. It was noted that calls for service tend to increase on the Fourth of July, that fireworks should not be lit next to dry grass or grain, and that, if caught, the public can be fined up to $2,000 for the use of illegal fireworks.