LAKEPORT — The Lakeport City Council decided to keep the citywide hiring freeze in place after discussing staff”s request to have the restriction lifted to allow departments to fill vacant budgeted positions.
“This might not be the best time to lift the hiring freeze,” Mayor Suzanne Lyons said during the regular council meeting Tuesday evening at Lakeport City Hall.
The hiring freeze has been in place since August 2008, and during the past 35 months, city staff needed to request special approval from the council in order to recruit for and fill a budgeted position when vacancies occurred.
Staff requested the council lift the freeze to allow positions already allocated for in the 2011-12 budget to be filled when vacancies arise without the extra step of council approval, which tends to add three weeks to the recruitment process, Administrative Services Director Kelly Buendia said.
With proposed 2011-12 staffing levels at “a minimum,” lengthy recruitments to fill vacancies “can be very burdensome” on department workloads, Buendia said.
Buendia made it clear that the request applied only to positions existing in the budget. “If it is not in the budget, it would need to come back to this city council,” she said.
Several council members, however, indicated their desire to keep the current system intact.
Councilman Bob Rumfelt said removing the hiring freeze could give the community the wrong impression about the city”s difficult financial situation. Councilman Tom Engstrom said he preferred to have staff continue asking for council approval before recruiting to fill the vacant positions.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina suggested Tuesday might not be the right time to remove the freeze because of the uncertain effects the recently-approved state budget could have on the city”s 2011-12 budget.
“I feel like we”re in a state of unknown,” Mattina said.
The council passed a motion directing staff to bring the lift request back for council consideration at a future meeting. Councilman Roy Parmentier dissented in the 4-1 vote that kept the hiring freeze active.
In other business, the city presented a service award to Marc Spillman, a Lakeport resident who served on the Lakeport Planning Commission for seven years but resigned in May after being appointed to the county”s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).
“I would have loved to do both jobs, but I can”t,” Spillman said.
After Lyons presented Spillman with an award plaque, the council heard from the three candidates who applied to complete Spillman”s term, which expires next May.
The council appointed longtime city resident Ken Wicks, Jr., a project manager with experience addressing planning issues and working with local jurisdictions, to fill the unexpired term on the Lakeport Planning Commission.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
