11/28/17 – 11:17 A.M.

Hancock County is taking a step to keep employees at the Department of Job and Family Services. Starting in 2018 employees will work under a new pay scale. The new system allows employees to get to the top of the pay scale in six steps rather than 12.

Assistant prosecutor Cindy Land says the change doesn’t impact the department’s budget, just the step process for employees.

In other Job and Family Services news, the commissioners approved a new three-year contract with JFS Director Diana Hoover. The contract says Hoover will make $85,000 in the first year of the deal and a little more than $88,000 in the final year.

The commissioners also appropriated another $50,000 for Job and Family Services to help deal with children affected by the current opioid epidemic.