By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

At Monday night’s commission meeting, the Ellis County Commission approved a resolution limiting future hiring within county departments.

The resolution states any unfilled position open before March 25 will remain open.

The position will then be removed from the 2016 budget unless the department head can convince the county administrator and the county commission the position is necessary.

Commissioner Barb Wasinger said this does not mean that any county employees are going to lose their jobs.

“There’s not a single person at this table who has used the word ‘layoff,’ ” Wasinger said. “There are no layoffs planned.”

Wasinger said the purpose behind the move is to see where the county is with its 2016 budget as the commission continues to look for ways to cut into a deficit projected at more than $1 million.

In other business, the commission approved a decommission agreement with Invenergy for the Buckeye Wind Project north of Hays. Under the agreement, Invenergy would pay approximately $18,000 per wind turbine to decommission the turbines if the company ends the operation.

Under the new agreement, Invenergy said it will build 112 turbines.

The commission also conducted the election canvass for the April 7 elections.

County Clerk and Election Officer Donna Maskus said a coding issue caused a discrepancy in the unofficial results, although it did not change the outcome in any races.

Maskus said the error was made by the Election Systems and Software, and the company made the necessary changes.