It was a tough day at the office for employees with the Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services after learning of job cuts coming to their department.

At Thursday night's commissioner's meeting, a resolution was signed leading to the loss of 15 positions due to a cut in funding to the department.

"There were tears shed. I mean, it's tough," BCDJFS Director Dwayne Pielech said, explaining how his employees reacted after hearing the news they may not have a job. "We have to live within our budget. We're at a fraction at where we were four or five years ago. We've lost over 60 percent of our funding for operations and we'll continue to lose."

Because of certain protections due to laws and unions, Pielech said even though 15 positions are being eliminated, some employees that hold those positions could still have a job because of bumping.

"The people that are in the bottom positions of the organizations, seniority-wise, the people who have been here the least amount of time, they'll be the actual people laid off," Pielech said.

He added that this is happening all over the state and they have been left to cut jobs after making significant cuts across the department already.

Pielech is asking the residents to be patient as well since there will be some changes in how things are done in the department.

"When you have less people serving the public, there's obviously going to be a ripple effect. We're going to try and make it as seamless as possible," he said.

According to the resolution, several positions will also operate on a 35-hour work week.

In total, about $1 million in cuts have been made which go into effect Jan. 19.

Pielech hopes when the governor sets the budget in the coming months, no additional cuts will have to be made.