City council takes no action on potential reduction of employees

The Graham City Council took no action on issuing a notice regarding a proposed reduction in city personnel during their first budget workshop.

The first workshop was held Tuesday, Feb. 17 with the city council starting its extended effort to plan for the upcoming fiscal year budget. City Manager Eric Garretty proposed layoffs at the Library of Graham and the Parks Department.

“Given the current financial situation, additional personnel reductions may be required. Under the current personnel policy, the city is required to give employees advance notice of any proposed layoffs,” Garretty said. “While this notice would not make layoffs a certainty, it does provide the city manager and the city council with the potential option to implement layoffs should the need arise.”

Garretty said he thinks the city should be upfront with the employees regarding the city’s financial situation. 

“I'm not saying that there will necessarily be layoffs, but I think we're to the point in our finances, we need to at least open that up as an option. If the council feels that no matter what, we're not going to lay anybody off, then you should just let this agenda item die,” Garretty said.

The agenda item died for a lack of motion from the city council after they heard from department heads and the city manager.

Council Member Jack Little asked why the city was required to give a notice of layoff instead of just performing those layoffs, if necessary.

“Although it doesn't specify the personnel policy, typically, what I see is at least six months' advance notice is a way to be fair to the employee,” Garretty said. “You're going to have to negotiate to determine whether or not you're going to provide severance, continuation of benefits, all those types of things. So in the first year, if you wait too long, you're not even going to realize the full savings. This is why this has to come up now.”

The proposed layoffs were suggested for two seasonal parks department employees, which have not been hired, and two positions at the Library of Graham. Library Director DeAnna Bullock said the cuts would have a large impact on operations.

“It would fundamentally change how we operate at the library. We couldn't do as much programming because I wouldn't have the staff to support it,” she said.

The city manager said the library was chosen due the fact that $336,587 was transferred out of the general fund to support the library, which was budgeted in the FY 2025 budget at $375,500. The previous year’s budget estimated $379,800 but exceeded $500,000.

“Y'all asked me to take a hard look at how we could reduce expenditures in the general fund and one of the ways we could reduce it is by reducing that transfer out and leaving that money in the general fund rather than providing it to the airport and the library,” Garretty said.

Public Works Director Randall Dawson said depending on how much rain the city receives, the removal of the two seasonal employees for mowing could put the city behind on that service for parks and cemeteries.

“What it will mean is, in a wet year, the grass in the cemetery will get long, or the grass in the parks will get long. We won't be able to keep up with both,” Garretty said.

City Council Member Jeff Dickinson said he was not going to make any motion to approve a layoff, but suggested Bullock be given the opportunity to design a budget to reduce salaries.

“Whether that's closing an extra day and reducing salaries that way, so that the budget kind of saves something or cuts back on programming. We're looking for $36,000. If that saves two people's jobs down there that you can work through, I'm willing to give you that opportunity to work a budget that you can bring to Eric and show some of those savings,” Dickinson said.

Garretty said the library has received support from various organizations for services but things were cut to bare bones just to keep the aging facility in operation.

“It doesn't mean cutting back on programs, it means, if she's got to find money in her budget, eliminating them,” Garretty said.

The city manager said he did not want to hear from the public for this budget cycle that the city was raising taxes without considering reducing their employee workforce to reduce the expense. Dickinson said the $36,000 number was not enough of a cut to make an impact.

“For me (that’s) not a $36,000 number. If we really wanted to attack that, we're talking adding a zero to that (so) $360,000. (A suggested cut of) $36,000, I think, can be found somewhere else,” Dickinson said.

The city council will continue their budget discussions during a second workshop with the regularly called meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, March 19.