City Union Takes Issue with Mayor's Budget after New Hire

[DowntownNow]

Reported by News Channel 8 last night.

Budget Battle: Union Leaders vs. The Mayor
05/10/09 9:47 pm   Reporter: Burt Mummolo   Producer: Kerri Gift

Tulsa - Furloughs, hiring freezes, staffing issues, all them touchy subjects as the budget goes under the microscope.

It was presented as one of the main cost saving measures in the Mayor's budget. City employees taking 4-days on the chin, saving the city $3.6 million, to which workers were generally receptive. That is, until the mayor hired a new staff member [Stuart McCalman - Director of Inter-Governmental Affairs].

Union reps, their members [are] none too happy about the mixed signals from City Hall.

Bill Roland with the AFSCME says, "I just can't trust somebody that will look at me and tell me one thing and then her actions turn around and do another."

AFSCME is also taking issue with the mayor's so-called hiring freeze. As it turns out, the Mayor has approved 60 exceptions to the freeze.

"If you're in a hiring freeze, to me that means no hiring."
As for staffing of the Tulsa Fire Department?

Stan May says, "We're being asked to run short-staffed which is very dangerous for us."

But the Mayor voiced support of for more manpower.

"Police and fire academies are recommended to maintain staffing strength," she said.

But the next academy, says the union rep, isn't until next year, which means: "We'll be down probably 40 would be a pretty fair estimate," says May.

The rough waters of recession, made even choppier by politics.

"I would highly recommend and hope that she doesn't do anymore hiring when she calls a hiring freeze," says Roland.

The Mayor's office declined an on-camera interview, but released a statement stating in part that the Mayor's office has taken more than a 7% cut in its budget, staff are foregoing raises, and the mayor herself takes no salary so that she can hire the best people to work on city issues.

Union leaders say they plan on meeting with City Councilors and the Mayor's office in the coming weeks to discuss budget issues.

So here we have a hiring freeze put in place and yet the Mayor has chosen to fill 60 positions by exception.

The Mayor asks for a 4 day furlough of all city employess including police and fire but hires another at-will employee to her staff to handle what she describes as the various stimulus related programs and monies.  Would that not fall into the categories of the positions she has already filled on an individually related basis?  Example:  Monies for schools, eduction and community would be handled by Susan Neal for instance.  Monies for ecomomic development projects get handled by her Director of Economic Development, Mike Bunney.  Monies for infrastructure improvements would be handled by Public Works Director Charles Hardt (though I wish a change would be made).

Mayor makes a statement (declining on camera interview) that her office is taking a 7% cut in its budget yet is spending (along with Council) $57,000 on covered parking for a majority of her closest staff.

Mayor states staff is foregoing raises yet most (those that are still with her) received a substantial raise in March 2007 from 8-22%...this also established a new hiring bar for any replacement employees salaries.

No surprise here, but I have to agree with what Bill Roland says above.