The Monroe County Council voted to adopt a temporary hiring freeze resolution (Res. 2025-42) on Sept. 30, 2025, halting most full- and part-time hires across county departments while establishing a defined exemption process.
Under the resolution, an elected official or department head who needs to hire or transfer staff must notify the council administrator in writing; the council administrator forwards the request to all council members and to Employee Services. Councilors have 48 hours (weekends and holidays excluded) to request the item be placed on a public meeting agenda for council consideration. If no councilor requests consideration during that 48-hour window, the default is that the hiring request is denied and the department must not proceed.
The resolution includes a short list of exemptions for hiring processes that were already underway when the council adopted the freeze; councilors asked staff to clarify and add the department and account line for every exempted vacancy. The council amended the exempted list on the floor to add two Parks seasonal/after-school positions that were at the final step of pre-employment paperwork; for exemptions the council requires an offer be extended by Nov. 1, 2025, or the vacancy must follow the council review process.
Why it matters: the hiring freeze is designed to slow growth in personnel costs while the county addresses a multi-million-dollar projected deficit for 2026. The council also adopted related guidance for how departments request emergency or mission-critical hires.
Key vote: the resolution passed on a 6–0 vote with no recorded no votes; the council also recorded and published the exempted positions and directed staff to return an edited, itemized exhibit showing department, position title and account line for each exemption.
What the council directed next: staff will (1) finalize and publish a clarified exhibit with the exempt positions and account lines, (2) accept exemption requests via email in the format described in the resolution, and (3) apply the Nov. 1 deadline for offers already in process. Employee Services will maintain a spreadsheet documenting approved prior-service and hiring exemptions and provide copies to the council office.