The mood at City Hall these days is tense and morale low, according to employees, as workers await the outcome of ongoing union negotiations with 10 different bargaining units.
On Tuesday, morale got even worse as 11 city workers received second layoff notices that their jobs could be terminated as early as July. City Manager John Brown would not disclose a list of the departments affected, but said the cuts were across the board, with nearly every department, except fire, impacted.
“We tried to distribute it evenly so no one department took a strong hit,” Brown said Thursday. “We really tried to look at support functions versus direct line positions (employees who have direct contact with the public.)
Find out what's happening in Petalumawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
These include “a couple of positions” in the IT department, one in human resources and three in the police department, as the city tries to reconcile a $4 million budget deficit before heading into next fiscal year July 1.
Representatives from various city units said that negotiations were ongoing and declined to comment further.
Find out what's happening in Petalumawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The city gave 12 employees initial notice in early May to give them time to prepare for layoffs. Since then, one of the people on the list accepted the city's golden handshake offer, which grants two extra years of service for early retirement.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
