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County attorney outlines limits on exerting control over elected officials’ staff
Summary
Lake County’s attorney told commissioners that several elected offices have statutory authority to hire and fire their own staff, creating legal and fiscal tensions with county HR. Officials discussed using outside investigators and handbook updates to reduce litigation risk.
Matt Hobbs, Lake County’s attorney, told the board at its April 14 work session that state law gives certain elected officials — including the sheriff and the clerk and recorder — the authority to hire and dismiss their own employees, and that can limit the board’s ability to manage personnel risk.
Hobbs said the county’s human resources office generally handles personnel administration but must balance that work with the independent statutory powers of individual elected offices. “They have the ability to sort of manage their their staff meaning they get to say who they want to hire who they want to fire,” Hobbs said, summarizing the legal constraints that often surface in personnel disputes.
The attorney describ…
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