CENTREVILLE – The St. Joseph County Commission approved an exception to their hiring freeze during Tuesday's meeting.

By a 5-0 vote, the Commissioners lifted the hiring freeze to allow the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office to fill the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney 2 position. Prosecutor John McDonough (mac-DONE-uh) says many of the people he has hired over the years have left the office to go into the private sector.

McDonough says it's difficult for county's like St. Joseph to hire and retain prosecutors. Many applicants are from the east side of the state, and McDonough says St. Joseph County can't offer many of the things offered over there, except for salaries

McDonough says another factor that has been hindering his hiring a prosecutor is with the economy doing well, private sector firms are able to offer more money than he can.

Commission Chairman Dennis Allen said if there is something they can do to help retain these prosecutors, to let them know so they can take the appropriate steps.