Recently Commissioner Cribbins justified a $3,000 a year raise for the county’s HR director, Shari Jackson, by alluding that she was entitled to the same pay as men. According to The World “…Cribbins said she saw it as an issue of fairness. She also mentioned the fact that Jackson was a woman doing the job that two previous men had done without the same compensation — a situation that caused her some concern.” No one would argue that women don’t deserve equal pay for equal work so why didn’t they pay Jackson appropriately to begin with? It turns out three of the four people on the hiring committee are women and include Cribbins.

Several employees in the courthouse and sheriff’s department objected to the raise on the grounds that the increase isn’t being applied equally to all staff. If the predominantly female hiring committee discriminated against Jackson to begin with, is the commission now discriminating against the rest of county staff?

Another county job in the road department is set to be filled after a two year vacancy. An access foreman position is approved to be filled and it is expected that an employee in the essentially defunct solid waste department will be given the position, although anyone is welcome to apply.