Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced to thousands of state employees yesterday that he’d institute a “hiring freeze” as a cost-saving measure. But the freeze, as it turns out, is not an absolute halt to all new hiring.

“What it means is we’re going to slow hiring down. We will have a very high bar for hires that move forward,” said Fagan Harris, chief of staff to the Democratic governor. “The state government will continue making priority hires where it matters most.”

The term “hiring freeze” is in some ways “a misleading descriptor of what we’re doing,” Harris said in an interview.

“It doesn’t mean state government just grinds to a halt and we stop hiring,” Harris said.

Moore plans to save $121 million by enacting the hiring freeze, offering buyouts to state employees and eliminating about 150 new and vacant positions in state government. He announced the actions in a memo to state employees on Tuesday.

The cutting of personnel costs was required in the state budget that was negotiated with top lawmakers, but the budget didn’t dictate how the cuts should be made.

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Harris said there are “many, many, many exceptions” to the freeze, including for law enforcement officers, public safety workers like corrections and juvenile justice, and workers who staff round-the-clock operations, such as state psychiatric hospitals.

Additionally, the state will make “priority hires” to fill key vacancies and ensure programs continue to run smoothly, Harris said. They will make “very surgical and strategic decisions” on hiring new employees, including to fill positions when employees retire or leave for other jobs.

Case in point: The Office of the Governor has been advertising for three positions on their State House team, including a digital assistant, a press secretary and a “manager of strategic partnerships” who reports to a deputy chief of staff.

All three positions will be scrutinized before final decisions are made on whether to make hires, Harris said.

“Just because it’s posted doesn’t mean it’s going to be filled,” Harris said.

The governor’s office has grown from 100 employees to 123 over the last three years, with the budget growing from about $10.8 million to $14.6 million, according to state budget documents.

Harris said the added positions include employees on the teams that coordinate with the federal government and local governments, as well as the “public engagement” team that communicates to the press, public and stakeholders — all important roles at a time when the state is grappling with losing money and Marylanders losing jobs under the current federal administration.

The increased number of positions in the governor’s office also includes an eight-person “innovation team” whose salaries are paid for with a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

While Harris defended the growth of the governor’s staff, he also noted that the team will eliminate at least half a dozen vacant positions as part of the personnel cost-cutting measures. Getting rid of those salaries will save the state nearly $1 million.

“The governor is leading by example and modeling what it means to tighten the belt and operate with fiscal restraint,” Harris said.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, said he agreed with building exceptions into the hiring freeze for key positions and has “full confidence” that the Moore administration will use the exceptions judiciously.

“Not all vacancies are created equally,” Ferguson said. “Just because there’s a freeze, having an arbitrary line is not appropriate governance.”