Long-time staff will leave city, phase three of restructuring to begin next week

Published 10:11 am Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The City of Bainbridge Island has given notice to eight employees and at least another 10 have agreed to reduced work schedules, according to City Administrator Mark Dombroski.

The layoffs impacted long-time staff members, including Planning Manager Bob Katai and Ross Hathaway, head of capital projects in Public Works. Neither were part of the city’s staff union.

All notices will be effective on April 30.

The action brings total personnel cuts of roughly 11.3 full-time employee positions ($741,850 in reductions), leaving the city with a current work force of roughly 124 full-time employee equivalents. At the end of last year the city was approved to have 152 FTEs.

Last month, the council identified a $3.55 million gap that needed to be closed to achieve $2.75 million in reserves and operating cash by the end of the year.

However, with all the cuts (totaling $1.54 million) and the sale of surplus property and other revenue ($1.24 million), the city still falls about $750,000 short of the mark set by council.

To finish closing the gap would require another 10 FTE reductions, Dombroski said.

“If we did more layoffs, it would affect the ability to provide basic services,” council chairman Kjell Stoknes said.”I think the council accepts that and decided they didn’t want to go there.”

Other cost-cutting measures being implemented include: combining the development engineering and planning departments; eliminating traffic and planning studies; and stopping support for farm lands. The city will also issue a registered warrant (basically an IOU) for $300,000 for the Battle Point Park field construction.

“The most significant reductions are labor related,” Dombroski said of staff cuts. “It’s really hard in this environment, and unless some underlying facts change, they are final.”

The reductions have hit city road work crews hard. There are now five workers maintaining Bainbridge’s infrastructure. Utility workers would be mobilized to help road crews in cases of emergency, Dombroski said.

Most of the staffing layoffs have been spread across city departments, and include two manager positions, two administrative positions, two road crew positions and an engineering technician.

The city was hoping more staff members would reduce hours and participate in the state’s Shared-Work Program, however, it emerged Tuesday that city employees are not eligible for the program.

The Police Department will also lose one parking enforcement officer, will forego deferred compensation and will pay an additional $120 a month for their medical benefits. However, those actions are contingent on council members donating 3 percent of their salaries each month to the city.

A list of city properties earmarked to be sold or transferred to the Parks District will come before the council later this month.

The cuts, layoffs and property sales represent the completion of phase two of the city’s three-stage recovery plan.

Beginning at next week’s finance committee meeting, council members will discuss how to prioritize spending the city’s reduced baseline revenue. It is a process that will likely require public input.

“Phase three is reviewing the structural revisions to the city and restructuring how we do business,” Stoknes said. “It’s a longer-term conversation that will start next week.”

There have been over $3.9 million in reductions made at the city since January.

A full list of recent staff reductions and cuts can be downloaded from: http://www.ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us/documents/exec/clerk/cc_agn_0409/040809_2009_cash_flow_plan.pdf