Local employment office gets pink slip
Sharon Dull, office manager of the Buena Vista Virginia Employment Commission, was enjoying her day off on Monday when she received a phone call from her supervisor with bad news: The local VEC office is shutting down.
The Buena Vista branch is scheduled to close Nov. 30. Other offices across the state, including those in Fairfax, Prince William, Metro Richmond South and Suffolk, will also close in the near future because of a reduction in federal money.
In December 2007, the VEC announced an agency-wide reduction that eliminated 243 staff positions resulting in 157 layoffs on March 14. The VEC said there will be no additional layoffs because of the forthcoming closures.
According to the VEC Web site, the Buena Vista office has the lowest traffic in the state. Dull said that another contributing factor to the closure could be that the local office space is leased, and therefore more expensive to maintain.
Dull said that the Buena Vista office provides many services for the community, including referrals, counseling and social services, as well as interview preparation and resume help.
"There are people in our community who need the individual assistance they get when they come into the office," said Dull.
After the local office closes, residents will have to travel to Fishersville, Roanoke or Covington, the closest VEC offices, to get face-to-face help.
According to Dull, the 10 employees in her office will also have to travel. They will be reshuffled to other offices when the Buena Vista office closes.
As for Dull, she plans to retire.
For more information about the Virginia Employment Commission, visit http://www.vec.virginia.gov/vecportal/index.cfm
Produced by
Washington and Lee
journalism students.
Lead Supervisors:
Prof. Brian
Richardson
Prof. Phylissa
Mitchell
Editing supervisor:
Prof. Pamela Lucke
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd