Retire-rehire discussion in Lima sparks battle of words
By William Laney, The Lima News, Ohio | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"At the end of the day, we need to make sure the administration is properly training individuals to step into these positions, giving them an opportunity to advance up the ladder and they need to quit playing games and hiring friends and co-workers and keeping them in the same position," Lowe said after Monday's committee meeting. "We also are using a lot of temporary services and we, as a committee, do not feel they are necessary at all times. At the end of the day, these jobs are important as much as the mayor's job."
The next step in the process is for Geiger to pen the proposed legislation and to have councilors vote on the change. Lowe said at that point he would call another committee meeting.
Lowe and fellow committee member
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union Local 1002 President
During the meeting, Finance Director
"If we replace the contracted employees with permanent employees, we will be in a layoff mode in three to five years and if we are in a layoff mode then we will have to bring in temporary labor," Cleaves said. "We have approximately 19 temporary employees, and I am not saying we would replace all of those with regular employees, but to the extent that we replace those employees with full-time employees then we would burn through our cash reserves and we cannot sustain them."
Cleaves and Human Resources Director
"The city has done a good job in managing its manpower especially since the 2008 recession," Cleaves said. "Fortunately, we started some really strict manpower controls prior to that recession and that has what has gotten us through the years and has helped us end up with a financial situation which is pretty much unparalleled in this region.
"We do have inflation and we are hiring over a dozen safety-services people in police and fire and that is very expensive," he said. "We just cannot replace all these short-term employees with full-time employees. We just cannot afford that."
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