CROWN POINT | Lake County government officials can put away their 'help wanted' signs for at least 10 days.

The Lake County Council and the Board of Commissioners met in a special joint session Thursday afternoon, voting unanimously to pass a hiring freeze ordinance set to expire early next month.

A debate regarding extending the freeze through the end of the year drew heated remarks from those who thought the proposed ordinance contained too many exceptions and those who feared it would cut too many essential services.

The exemptions would have included jobs required to meet state or federal mandates as well as positions within the highway department and the prosecutor's office.

County Surveyor George Van Til complained the emergency meeting Thursday was brought about by media reports of his effort to fill five jobs that had become vacant or had been created under a mandate by the U.S. Clean Water Act.

"I want to cut, but what you want to cut is services. Is that good government? I'm being penalized. Tell us what you need. Let me do the cuts," he told council members and commissioners.

Lake County Council President Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, responded, "It has been in the papers for months and months that we have to cut $15 million. To say that you were in the dark is not true."

Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez said, "This freeze creates greater difficulty to budget solutions. We should look to building consensus in public."

Councilman Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said too many officials respond to austerity calls by telling the council to cut their office supplies.

"Sometime in March or April, they come to us for more money," Bilski said. "The only true reductions are in personnel."

Councilman Tom O'Donnell, D-Dyer, said hiring freeze ordinances passed in 2002, 2003 and 2004 saved $800,000 to $1.2 million annually but were discontinued because too many officeholders were granted too many exceptions.

"There was not one job where we said, 'Don't fill it.'"

Councilman Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, who supports the freeze, suggested the temporary freeze approved Thursday. He said it wasn't a token gesture.

"Some people said they had just looked at the ordinance, so this gives them time," Blanchard said. "But I wanted to walk out of the meeting with something."

Van Til said afterwards, "I think the result was favorable. This gives us a chance for a more reasonable approach. We are willing to bite the bullet. Just tell us which bullet."