The hiring freeze imposed earlier this year was removed by the Moore County Board of Commissioners at a Monday meeting.

Instead, the board decided to instruct County Manager Cary McSwain to reduce personnel by 2 percent through attrition.

“This way he has options. I don’t want anybody fired,” said Commissioner Nick Picerno, whose suggestion it was to do away with the freeze.

In making the proposal, Picerno pointed out that the board had approved just about every exemption requested since the freeze was implemented as a money-saving measure before adoption of the 2010-11 budget.

Under the freeze, the board voted individually on all requests to fill vacated positions and the county administration was required to justify filling each position.

In a related matter the commissioners approved a request from Health Director Robert Wittmann for employment of a social worker to coordinate the large increase in maternity and postpartum patients served through the health agency. The salary will be paid through fees collected from patients, and the position will not change the budget.

The board also agreed to support a request by the Gaston County Board of Commissioners to ask state House Speaker Joe Hackney to reverse a ban on sectarian prayer in the House of Representatives.

More details will appear in the print version of The Pilot.