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Last Updated: Mar 31, 2009 - 2:29:20 PM |
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Iowa County supervisor Bill Keegan listens as county road department employees ask about possible layoffs. Mitch Traphagen Photo
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MARENGO - More than a few visitors made their concerns known and got some of their questions answered at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Friday, May 23.
The issue of Road Department Layoffs drew 7-8 of it’s employees to attend the meeting for themselves. The day’s schedule included a discussion of and possibly a vote on Road Department layoffs. However, after a circle of arguments from both points of view it became obvious that there are no easy answers. Instead a circle of outcomes began to sound very much like the question of the chicken and the egg and, by the end of the meeting, a new course of action was motioned and voted on.
During the open forum the Supervisors were asked by Dan Frimml, one of the visitors that day, to each give their opinions regarding whether the layoffs are being considered primarily to balance the budget or whether they believe that the road department is overstaffed. Frimml asked to hear from Mr. Montross first.
Montross stated, “The thing is we’ve got the money to pay all the help but then we have no money to do any of the work with.”
Frimml replied, “But if you eliminate the help then there won’t be any help to do any of the work.”
To which Montross retorted, “What’s the help going to do if you don’t have any money to do anything?”
Ray Garringer pointed out that during the time that the budget was being prepared, the Board could not ignore the fact that the County Engineer had stated she could get by with 3 fewer employees without affecting services.
“Funding for the road department is bad this year and it’s going to be worse next year,“ Mr. Garringer said. “We had sincerely hoped to avoid any layoffs. That’s why we offered a pretty generous incentive for some people to retire that were near the retirement age and fortunately two of them took it.”
Ric Gerard stated, “At that time rather than doing the layoffs we decided to offer the early retirement package. We were hoping we’d get 3 people to take it but only two did.” Gerard also stated that a Senator from Iowa City is going to be proposing that the formula changes on the percentages of how much the county gets, that this Senator feels very strongly about this. He did not mention the Senator’s name but said that, “he was quoted to say that too much money is being spent on maintenance of rural roads, that changes need to be made so that more money is being directed at the State Highway System, the Interstate System and the city roads and streets.”
Gerard then acknowledged that JinYeene Neumann, the County Engineer, had a proposal that the Board had agreed to listen to which involved an evaluation of and recommendation regarding layoffs. It was mentioned that this evaluation would take two weeks to complete.
Bill Keegan replied, “Two have taken the early separation and one is thinking about retiring next year. My opinion is to wait for the recommendation.
Linda Yoder stated, “My recommendation, now, is no layoffs. I agree with Bill. I am disappointed that three people didn’t take it. I am hoping that at least one person will retire by this time in May in 2009. That would bring it to trhee. JinYeene isn’t happy about that but that is acceptable. I really would like to wait until that time and then, if no one retires, this should be revisited. Let’s see where the department is then and where fuel and maintenance prices are and at that time revisit it. We are going to have funding problems whether we like it or not but I don’t want it hanging over the employees heads,” she said and went on to mention that to her knowledge the retirement package would not be offered again in the future.
Another visitor mentioned that residents will probably never see the real impact. He pointed out that the quality of the equipmaent purchased will be lower, the Road Department will be operating with less equipment and will be short people to do that work yet the residents of Iowa County won’t be able to see the true impact.
Yoder said she thinks that in another 4 years, if this continues, people will see the impact.
Yoder made a motion to allow Paul Greufe, the county human resources consultant, and the County Engineer to work together on a two-week study and staffing analysis and to keep herself and Keegan informed on the progress of that study.
Neumann and Greufe agreed to come back on June 10th at 9:30 with a written plan for the supervisors. The motion passed with none opposed.
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