PORTAGE | City officials are hoping to boost employment opportunities for residents by posting jobs on a newly installed job board in the lobby at City Hall.

It is the latest effort to match residents with jobs.

"In my experience as councilman and mayor, we continue to have people coming to City Hall looking for employment," Mayor Olga Velazquez said.

City officials also have been prodding companies within the city, especially those that were granted tax abatements, to consider hiring Portage residents first. Companies often said they would, but few residents applied. Residents weren't getting the word about the job openings.

For the last two years, the city has hosted a job fair, but that only had limited success, Velazquez said.

"We wanted to take more of a proactive approach," she said.

Velazquez said Human Resources Assistant Kay Cherepko contacted companies with abatements seeking job listings to be posted and letting them know the additional resource would be available when they are hiring.

On Tuesday, the board had one job opening for a quality assurance technician at MonoSol Rx and five jobs available at U.S. Steel for maintenance technician mechanical, maintenance technician electrical, EMT/firefighters, maintenance analyst mechanical and utility workers. Both companies receive tax abatements from the city. Residents wanting more information may take a copy of the posting from the board and are referred to the companies' Web sites to apply for the jobs.

There was also a multiple-page listing of jobs available in Portage, offered by both abatement and non-abatement companies through the WorkOne career Web site: www.indianacareerconnect.com. More than 100 jobs were listed. Those interested in applying were directed to the Web site.