Committee meeting grows heated as job cuts discussed
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Emotions ran high at a joint meeting of Marietta City Council's Employee Relations and Finance committees Monday evening.
The meeting started with Public Works Superintendent Chris Hess, who spoke about two positions, foreman II and office manager, proposed for elimination as cost-saving measures. He said both individuals, Tanner Huffman and Susan Joyce, make quality contributions the department can't be without.
Hess said the recent flood served as an example of the quality of his department and others.
"This past week, you saw what this city is all about," Hess said. "We came together and you could rely on us. Each and every one. And without new leaders, each employee is only as good as their leaders."
Hess said Huffman has a plethora of institutional knowledge and had been a big help during his two years as superintendent.
"You don't know how valuable someone is until you walk a mile in their shoes," he said of Joyce. "To put her load on somebody else, I don't think it's going to work."
Employee Relations Chairwoman Cassidi Shoaf, at large, asked Hess if he had any suggestions for potential budget cuts.
"I think that you could cut hours in their pay. If every employee was willing to take four hours from their pay, which is eight hours every pay period, that's a cost savings," he said.
Hess's response prompted a clap from the crowd.
Shoaf said the proposed cuts are not a reflection on any particular employee.
"These are not our determination who's a valuable employee and who's not a valuable employee. That's not our extent as what we're looking at things as," she said.
Finance Director Mitch Dimmerling said if the city were to not cut any lines from the current budget, the general fund would have $245,640.47 left by the end of 2024. At the end of 2025, the fund is projected to have a deficit of $674,738.46 and $1,414,261.25 by the end of 2026.
"We've living paycheck to paycheck and have been for a decade plus," Shoaf said. "We have taken the reserves that we have every month or every year because we have been running in our deficit."
Tensions got heated when Shoaf asked the crowd to refrain from clapping after Hess finished his presentation. The crowd did the exact opposite, and clapped again. Shoaf said the clapping would cause the meeting to take more time.
Utility Administrator Kimberly Nohe spoke next. She said while considering potential cuts, the council should come to offices like hers to see how much work they do.
"I have to do my job. I don't understand how each of you think you know what goes on in the city just by looking at the performance audit," she said.
Fourth Ward Council member Erin O'Neill said the council had previously asked the administrative office to obtain feedback for cost-cutting measures from various department heads. The office told the council that the information was not forthcoming.
Finance Chairman Michael Scales, 1st Ward, said the city needed to move forward.
"We've spent an hour, hour-and-a-half in this room trying to find out what everybody's views are. Well, we found out tonight, didn't we everybody? What should happen now is, we can't get a way back machine and change it," he said.
An attendee in the audience interrupted him by asking what the city would do if six officers were cut from the force and a 6-year-old was sexually assaulted at the Washington County Fairgrounds. This prompted a heated discussion between Scales and several audience members about the source of the proposed number of police department cuts and the money problems that led to it.
"Whose problem is this to begin with?" asked the attendee, whose name was not immediately available. "Is it city council's when someone mismanages funds through the years? Or, why is this all of a sudden, boom, all of a sudden you have to get rid of two firemen, six police officers and city workers? And obviously you need them all."
Scales replied, "We don't need them all," prompting "oohs" throughout the room.
Kristen Hainkel can be contacted at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com