Tazewell County elected officials and department heads said during the meeting that low wages and restrictive benefit rules are making it difficult to hire and keep employees, and urged the board to accelerate a compensation and classification review.

The concern centers on competitive pay and benefit design. A county department head said, “We need to do that yesterday,” describing multiple open positions and recent departures tied to pay and benefits. The same speaker said one employee had accepted another job that paid “$5,000 more a year,” and that the department’s staffing level was “half of what it was.”

Why it matters: speakers warned that continued vacancies and turnover could interrupt county services. Department heads repeatedly linked recruitment problems to pay and to benefit rules that limit whether a spouse may be enrolled on county insurance plans. One commenter said the inability to include a spouse on county coverage can make private-sector offers comparatively more attractive.

Board members and former county officers described broader labor-market pressures. A former county official compared Tazewell County’s experience to neighboring “Tri-County,” saying that even after raising salaries there, some lower-level positions remained hard to fill. Several speakers urged the board to prioritize the compensation and classification project to improve recruitment and retention.

Speakers also noted bargaining-unit dynamics. One person observed that union-negotiated benefits and salary packages have affected market comparisons and that some unions are considering trimming spousal coverage because of rising costs.

No formal action was recorded in the transcript on pay changes or a timeline for implementation. Speakers asked for the board to make compensation a top priority and for staff to return with concrete proposals; the transcript records discussion and strong support for rapid progress but no completed motion or vote.

Ending: Department heads asked for prompt follow-up and for the board to consider both salary adjustments and benefit design changes. Several speakers recommended board education sessions and direct meetings with department heads to align on priorities and implementation details.