Looks like neglect unto shutdown. What happens when someone has a serious accident or a number of people come down with an illness, that is traced back to the 4 Seasons? What then, are the people making these decisions going to ‘fall on their swords’? Are they going to take responsibility for any lawsuit emerging as a result of these decisions?

Will the public have access to a bucket and mop during the winter months? Maybe a remove shoes policy should be put in place and toilet brushes installed ln all bathroom stalls and hand sanatizer, the tax payors can then perform all needed
cleaning.
Maybe the city hall cleaners will have new duties.

What I find even more mysterious around this ‘layoff’ (is the word fired more in line?)…. is that there is zero mention that the president of 1048 Janet Bigelow has also been terminated – not laid off. They were all terminated. Laid off implies there will be work in the future and could be rehired. Maybe by letting go of the inside worker President the mayor feels she has blind sided the staff.
The way I would look at this would be if I were a life guard would be to do a refusal to leave my post ie: the pool deck. They were trained and bid on the posting as a life guard NOT a custodian! What an insult to the profession of life guards, and what an insult to the public that our safety has been compromised in this way. I think all it would take would be for the mayor or any of the staff that knew about this for one of their family members to have a safety incident. Then we’ll see things change pretty quick!!

editor’s note:
while Ms. Bigelow’s position has been eliminated, she (as all union employees) is able to “bump” and may not be without work unless she agrees to bow out.

Maybe City managers should look in the mirror,that’s were the real savings is not on part-time workers earning 13.00 an hour. Soon City managers on the way out they have lost any credibility to manage in the best interests of Citizens.

Totally agree with you on that Millman55

A communications manager (the used to be called Public Relations Officer) does not comment if staffing changes (reductions, firings, terminations…) came about due to some (possibly disputed) internal job related issues. This is to protect the privacy of individuals and the legal rights of employer and employee. Common practice.

However, the media expects to have communicated to it legitimate technical questions in respect to safety, cleanliness and other such mundane matters!

If that does not happen, what exactly is the benefit of having a Communications Manager?

Traditionally a mayor would be ready and able to give informed and detailed answers to technical questions. Or perhaps a mayor’s personal assistant? Or a city manager?

However, the media expects to have communicated to it detailed and precise answers to all legitimate technical questions in respect to safety, cleanliness and other such mundane matters!

There, that’s better!

Perhaps someone should look at the staffing, and safety issues at the other pool and see how it stacks up against what’s happening at Four Seasons.

In other words is one under staffed and the other over staffed?? Or is four seasons coming into line with the other pool??? Who knows.

I know it sounds a bit strange, however there is a possibility that these are legitimate cuts, and that this facility has been over staffed for a number of years. We know this to be true in other areas of the City, especially in Management and Administration.

We cannot reduce the cost of running City hall if we keep the staffing levels the same.

Something has to give.

Or maybe there is a planned degradation of the Four Seasons so the city can some made up excuse to tear it down and build the PAC at that location. Making it less attractive therefore usage will drop, voila they will say no longer used.

How well are the mechanicals being maintained?

Just maybe the money they save from the layoffs will make it possible to hire another manager.

Millman55, no City worker makes $13 per hour. I wish. I have always seen job listings for these positions start around the $25 per hour mark.

Is it possible these positions were overstaffed? I highly doubt the custodian positions at the pools were due to how these pools look whenever I have been there but it is possible.

Didn’t the City try to turn over the running & profits of the pool to the YMCA a couple of years ago? The taxpayers became vocal so the turn over was dropped, but if we stop going to the pool because it is dirty then the Y or someone else gets to own a pool that the taxpayers built.

I’m concerned with the fact that we effectively no longer have a financial administration department. Obviously the smartest thing to do when trying to “save” money is get rid of the people who tell you where the money is coming from and where it is going.

I believe you are right Graymare. It will be interesting to see where this goes….

It seems that administration is deciding what the priorities are for the city and they have ruled that Four Seasons is not a city priority. I guess that’s why they get all the 6-figure salaries and have drafted a ‘Council Code of Conduct’ to protect administration from an inquiring city council that is left uninformed.

If we are changing staffing requirements that impact service levels, than this should be discussed at budget time through the elected councilors, and not in back rooms by vested interest unelected administrators.

If the unelected administrators want to create savings with human resources, than they need look no further than the remuneration of their own contracts come renewal time.

This whole thing smacks of city administration creating a problem, so that they can implement their own policy objectives towards the PAC solution.