LOCK HAVEN — The Clinton County Board of Commissioners approved a variety of personnel items this week — including the hiring of an election assistant/utility floater.

Erin Worden will take on the full-time role at a salary of $34,866.00 (Grade H), with a retroactive start date of March 6.

The salary will be paid for through the $112,442.93 Election Integrity Grant the county received in 2022.

“We are excited to have Erin Worden on board. She is already working diligently to assist in processing over 1,000 mail-in and absentee ballot requests,” Maria Boileau, county voter registrar, said. “Erin is a great addition to the Elections team and we look forward to a great Municipal Primary Election.”

According to the job description, the position will spend approximately 6 months of the year performing full-time election duties. This includes assisting in the maintenance of current voter registration cards, registering voters, processing registrations and updating voter addresses, names and parties as well as assisting in the process of mail-in and absentee ballot applications.

General duties will fall under the “utility/floater” aspect of the position, with Worden serving as a receptionist in the Piper Building and assisting departments on an as-needed basis while performing other clerical work.

The board also hired Brittany Koch as a full-time deputy sheriff at a salary of $32,403.00 (Grade F) effective March 20. Koch’s appointment is pending successful pre-employment testing.

“Brittany will have to go to the Sheriff’s Academy at Penn State (and) will have to be certified,” Sheriff Kerry Stover said.

Stover said having a female officer will be extremely helpful when dealing with situations involving women.

“Having a female in that office, with the amount of females we deal with, will be great,” he said.

Commissioner Angela Harding offered her congratulations to Koch’s pending employment in the department.

“I’m very happy we’ve been able to diversify the department and add a female to the staff,” she said.

In other sheriff’s department news, the commissioners approved the transfer of Luke Motter from part-time deputy to full-time with a salary of $38,596.00 (Grade H). The board later approved the salary during its Salary Board meeting.

“That salary request is due to his many years of experience and no need to send him away to training,” Stover said. “That saves the county a significant amount of money.”

Stover said Motter came to his department from another county “fully certified and ready to go.”

“The only real training we had to do when he became a part-time deputy was how we do things here in Clinton County,” he said

In other personnel matters, the commissioners:

— Approved a lateral transfer of Colt Smith from juvenile probation officer to family finding case manager in Children and Youth Services.

— Accepted the resignation of Alexis Jacobs, agricultural resource conservationist at the Clinton County Conservation District, effective March 3, 2023.