A sigh of relief? Not really.

If you have been following the news, and if you are here I would imagine you have been, the council meeting was last night and the layoffs are not taking place...

"at this time"

So, we relax for a few minutes, and then the rest hits us...increased utilities costs, possible increased fines, increased recreation fees, and the loss of the 48 vacant positions that were already part of the hiring freeze.

I'm going to guess that the lack of logic within the city's administration has run rampant.

Is it in the over priced water they are drinking?

Probably not, the rest of us consuming the water have been able to put it all together.

So what is it that makes them think...hmm these positions that have been vacant, that are costing us nothing, well they have to go!! Most of us realize that cutting those jobs is pretty simple, but when we need to re-open them, well that is a process that takes time and a lot of begging.

We need to continue to voice our concern.

Congratulations and thanks to all of you who have taken the time to comment here, and to those who have passed this blog address and print outs around to your fellow citizens. We got their attention, and they magically pulled it all together at the last minute, in order to avoid the layoffs.

I bet Mr Twombly thinks he is looking good right now.

He saved the employees!
He is putting the city back together!

You know, the city that wasn't really in such a bad place to begin with. The city that has incurred a lot of unnecessary, and sometimes even suspicious, expenses all while under Mr Twombly's direction.

Yep, it was him. He is a hero.
(insert sarcastic grin here)

Surely the administration isn't silly enough to think that pulling it off without the proposed lay offs looks good on them? We aren't that naive. They would know we would see through that right?

I'd like to think that the pressure put upon the council and the management that was generated through our efforts to get the word out, and the citizens and employees who showed up to let council know that they were watching, they cared about their city, and they weren't going to stand for this administration's inabilities, are what led to the sudden halting of the proposed lay offs.

Or, just maybe we were supposed to be so focused in one direction that we miss what is happening over yonder? A little misdirection maybe?

Whichever one it is, even though they have held off on the layoffs "at this time", we need to continue voicing our concern for the other services that will be affected, and for the removal and overhaul of the current administration.

I liked this comment made last night..

"Anonymous said...
It seems to me that Jim Twombly and the entire city council missed the point on why there were so many red shirts in the crowd at the city council meeting. It wasn't about layoffs or eliminating positions. It's about the mismanagement that has been occurring pretty much since Twombly took office. Taxes and revenues are up (just look at all of the press releases and the state tax records), yet we've been in a financial crisis for three years!?!?! This "company" needs a new CEO."

Indeed, this company needs a new CEO.