Just the public discussion of laying off city employees does real harm to our city. The negative impact on our city’s image and the chilling effect on employee morale are not insignificant. The “Go Wet” forces in town have to be jumping to joy.

All citizens expect safety and security of our families, especially for our children and youth, to be one of the highest priorities of our city government. It would seem that cuts to fire and police departments would be one of the last items considered when struggling with city budgets.

It is difficult to imagine the “undisclosed new responsibilities” for Hartselle Beautification that could be more important than providing adequate fire and police protection.

Before any employee is laid off, and probably even before publicly threatening layoff, a lot of other options should be considered and some really important questions need to be answered.

The impact on city budgets might be dramatic if the mayor and council sought and then seriously considered ideas from citizens and especially from city employees about ways to increase revenues and reduce costs. There are council members with the management and business experience to realize that initially every idea or suggestion will be automatically rejected by someone with-that won’t work, we’ve never done it that way, the idea is not big enough, etc., etc. Solving the current budget problem may require a combination of a lot of small ideas but working together in creative ways, I am sure it can be done without damaging our city.

Other options and questions might include:

Evaluate which contributions to non-profits are more important than employees.

Reduce mayor, council and employee trips to Gulf Shores and Montgomery.

Offer unpaid leave to employees that might want additional free time.

Increase some city fees that have not been addressed for several years.

Vigorously pursue unpaid and underpaid building permits and business licenses.

Do reductions in fire and police protection potentially increase homeowners’ insurance?

How do layoffs affect the city’s unemployment insurance costs?

What will be the costs of hiring and training replacement employees?

What will be the impact on employee overtime costs?

Will the threat of employee layoffs increase the likelihood of Hartselle going wet?

Working together, we can keep our city growing and being one of the best places to live in Alabama.

Jerry Weeks

Hartselle