Employment opportunities in the district departments

The first item approved dealt with the county’s District Attorney’s office, a department that has worked hard to steadily increase its staff after facing a staffing crisis last year.

District Attorney Sarah Hacker was before the board asking them to expand on the skills they implemented last year to continue recruiting and hiring qualified individuals into the new year. Strategies implemented last year for the DA’s office to promote staffing efforts included salary increases for current and future staff to be competitive with other DA offices in the area and across the state.

Hacker stated that the changes allowed in her hiring practices over the past year have shown great success and that she is currently working to hire four more local attorneys, all of whom have extensive experience in the law field.

“They would be a great asset to our office,” Hacker said before the board approved her request.

The second department approved to expand its department was the county Department of Public Health

Rose Mary Rahn, director of public health, received board approval to add four positions to the department to expand the home visiting program. The positions included a Senior Family Resource Coordinator and three Family Resource Coordinators.

The home visiting program aims to provide resources and support to newly pregnant families to reduce rates of child abuse and maltreatment, while inversely promoting preschool and kindergarten readiness.

The approved program will operate through the Department of Public Health for a total of $297,694 in contract services, benefits and salaries.

The Kings County Fire Department issued a series of warnings to the public Tuesday morning regarding the current heat wave and the Fourth of July.

Fire Chief Salvador Flores invited Emergency Services Office Manager Abraham Valencia to talk about the heat and how important it is to stay calm.

“The biggest message from us at the OES Office is community awareness,” Valencia said. “We don’t want that to stop us. I know there’s a lot of graduations going on in the community, a lot of outdoor events going on, so we just want to make sure we’re spreading awareness about this heat wave.â€

With temperatures hovering above 100 degrees, cities may choose to use their cooling centers to provide relief to the community, and Valencia noted that the county operates a cold zone program that includes cooling centers at local libraries. Chairman Doug Verboon reminded the public to stay calm and stay hydrated.

Flores also told supervisors that Independence Day safety campaigns would soon begin through social media and other public communication methods to promote the use of safe and healthy fireworks. It noted that calls for service tend to increase on the Fourth of July, that fireworks should not be lit near grass or dry grain, and that, if caught, the public can be fined up to $2,000 for using illegal fireworks.