Allendale County seeking workers for public safety, senior and transit jobs

Fire response, emergency dispatch, senior meals and county rides all sit inside Allendale County’s latest hiring push. The county is looking for a full-time firefighter, a Council on Aging director, an EMT, a county assessor, a 911 telecommunicator, deputy sheriffs, correctional officers and a full-time transit driver, a mix of openings that reaches into the daily services people notice fastest when something goes wrong.

The vacancies stretch across public safety, aging services, transportation and administration, which means the county is trying to keep several basics running at once. That matters in a county where residents may need a dispatcher to answer first, an EMT to arrive next, a deputy to follow up, and a transit driver to make sure a senior can still get to an appointment or a county office. The county’s own leadership roster shows the people connected to those systems: interim administrator Chanel Lewis, finance director Esther Bridges, EMS director Lish Sabb, E911 contact Jodi Kearse and Office on Aging director Dawan Smith. Sheriff James Freeman is listed on the county’s elected officials page.

The county says applications may be emailed to ebridges@allendalecounty.gov, mailed to Allendale County, Attn: Esther Bridges, P.O. Box 190, Allendale, SC 29810, or dropped off at 526 Memorial Ave. North, Allendale, SC 29810. The county also says it is an equal opportunity employer and asks for no phone calls, making the process straightforward for applicants who want to step into one of the local jobs that cannot be delayed for long.

The need is sharper in a county that keeps getting smaller and older. The U.S. Census Bureau’s estimates put Allendale County’s population at 7,355 on July 1, 2025, down from 10,419 in 2010, with a 2020 Census count of 8,039. Residents age 65 and over make up 23.5% of the county, while the civilian labor force participation rate stands at 43.6% of people age 16 and up. That combination puts extra weight on jobs tied to transport, meals and emergency response.

The Council on Aging opening lands in that context. The Allendale County Office on Aging provides home-delivered meals, congregate meals and transportation for seniors age 60 and older, and the Allendale County Leisure Center reopened after a COVID-era shutdown with hot meals three days a week. On the public safety side, the county has faced this pressure before. Local reporting in 2021 said the sheriff’s office had critical staffing shortages for Class 1 certified officers, and countywide law enforcement totaled only 20 officers, including 12 in the sheriff’s office, five in Allendale police and three in Fairfax police. County leaders also discussed consolidation and 12-hour shifts. The current openings suggest those service pressures are still real, and still local.