With less than two weeks before an expected approval to lay off
Hollister employees, the pressure on City Council members can only
build.
And it was already excruciating
– long before this week’s delay to approve the plan.
With less than two weeks before an expected approval to lay off Hollister employees, the pressure on City Council members can only build.
And it was already excruciating – long before this week’s delay to approve the plan.
Decision makers Wednesday acknowledged growing pressures – and with it anxiety – because of an upcoming vote on whether to lay off 36 positions from an already lean workforce.
Councilman Robert Scattini said about 15 people – employees and residents – have tried to lobby his outlook this week. Councilman Brian Conroy said he’s losing sleep and getting headaches since Monday’s passion-driven meeting.
They hear it to their faces and through the phone. They know it’s the talk of the town. And they realize a decision must be made, and one that nobody envies.
“The bottom line is,” Scattini said, “we just don’t have the money.”
Conroy acknowledged the dueling pressures – an authority over workers’ livelihoods versus a duty to mend the city’s financial woes.
According to projections, without layoffs Hollister could wipe out its General Fund reserve and be $10 million in debt by 2009.
“We still have to do what’s right,” Conroy said. “I would rather do what’s right and not get re-elected then do what’s wrong and get re-elected.”
He and Mayor Tony Bruscia were on the Council subcommittee that met since early December with City Manager Dale Shaddox and formed the “Reduction in Force” (RIF) plan. It was publicly released Jan. 9.
As is, among the 36 layoffs are several top level managers – including the fire chief, finance director and planning director positions. Public Works would get hit the hardest with 13 layoffs.
But it’s not one position or department – or even a few – receiving support from workers and residents. It’s “across the board jobs,” Scattini said.
“I can’t speak for the other (Council members),” he said. “But there’s a tremendous amount of pressure on me. I just don’t like it.”
That’s precisely what the employees want – increased pressure on the Council, according to Luis Aguilar, a city engineer and incoming president of a local union, the Services Employees International Union (SEIU).
And they plan to up the ante, and soon. At a meeting of SEIU members tonight they will craft a flier and send it to members of the public, Aguilar said. Through it, they hope to convince residents the RIF is a bad idea.
Employees acknowledged that getting more time – when the Council delayed the approval Monday – provided a sense of relief. There was hope, Aguilar said, even if slim.
Still, whether anything will change before Jan. 28, Aguilar said, “We don’t know. We don’t have any idea.”
But Council members, including Bruscia, don’t want to give workers the wrong impression. Monday’s decision, Bruscia said, may have left workers believing a series of meetings would occur before Jan. 28 between unions and city management to hammer out a solution.
“That’s backwards,” Bruscia said.
Thus far, there have been no such meetings scheduled. Hollister officials are sticking with the original plan to approve the layoffs, then go through the legally mandated “meet and confer” process with unions, Bruscia said.
Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia maintains a unique perspective on the issue – though she tries to remain objective about her daughter, a City Hall secretary, whose position made “the list.”
“I’m not going to lie to you and say I’m heartless because I’m not,” Valdivia said. “But I really make a big effort to look at the whole picture.”
Meanwhile, Council members aren’t the only senior officials losing sleep over the layoffs. Shaddox admitted to being emotionally exhausted after last week’s release of the list.
There was even speculation circulating that he may want out after his initial recommendation to place his own city manager position on the layoff list.
“I hope he stays, but the pressure’s certainly there,” Conroy said.
On Wednesday, Shaddox said about 20 people asked him that question this week. But he recommended laying off the city manager, he said, “strictly from a business standpoint.”
“I’m not sure where it’s all being generated from,” he said. “I’m not understanding it.”
Until Jan. 28 – and likely long beyond – the high-strung state of city politics will remain, official said.
Even with layoffs, further financial pains await.
“We can’t go bankrupt,” Scattini said.
