At the July 21 council meeting, Mayor Charles Hart recommended the agenda be changed to remove a resolution which would have reduced the work force in the Building Inspections Department.

He said some changes had developed over the weekend which meant it could be postponed. Mike Stanley, whose job was on the line, was present at the meeting along with some local builders.

Hart said that some money which had incorrectly been charged to the General Fund, which is low, should have been paid out of the gas funds. “It’s a cash flow problem not that we will be bankrupt,” said Hart.

After the meeting, Hart said moving that money into the General Fund may can save an employee’s job for a while, “but it may be inevitable.” Hart said he wanted to avoid running out of money and not being able to pay the employees the city keeps.

The city is facing $200,000 less in income than the budget predicted, according to Hart’s assessment in May. The majority of that is in expected building inspection income, he said. The number of houses the city expected to be built has not occurred because of the real estate market decline.

In July, two employees classified as part-time or temporary have been laid off from the Public Works department. Jamie Gilmore was hired back to work at the Clay City Park construction site, which is being paid from a $5.5 million loan the city acquired in January. A week after being hired back, he left for another job.

Councilman Dean Kirkner, who is running for mayor opposed to Hart, asked during the meeting if money spent on park construction earlier in the fiscal year can be paid back to the General Fund from the loan. He asked how much that total is.

Hart said it can be, but he would not give an amount or an estimate since the city’s books are still being corrected. He said he will present the figure to the council when it is determined it is an accurate figure. He also said he didn’t want to reimburse all that money because it may not be needed.

Howard Kohser, who also is on the Finance Committee, told Hart during the council meeting that in October the city will be broke. “Somehow we need to get money into the General Fund,” he said. He agreed with Kirkner that money should be taken from the loan to reimburse the General Fund. Particularly, he asked about the engineering expenses. He also said money needs to be set aside for an emergency fund as the city had before it spent it last year.

After the meeting, Hart said that it doesn’t make sense to pay interest in a loan for the expenses at the park construction that have already been paid when the city had the money on hand.

Josh Cheek, one of the employees already laid off from Public Works, asked at the council meeting why the city is keeping employees with higher salaries to do the work that people with lower salaries can do, such as cutting grass. He said the shortfall is in building inspections. He also asked why the city has a full-time carpenter. “What building construction is the city doing now?” asked Cheek.

Hart said that the personnel policy is that temporary employees must go before the permanent. “I personally anguished over any lay offs,” Hart said.

He told Cheek the layoffs may not be over.

Councilman Ricky Baker explained that the people who make the most money in the city also have the most skill, so they are important to the city.

Cheek asked why the city needed two building inspectors and a carpenter, full-time.

Baker said those are the things being looked at.

Councilman Benny Grissom said there is a system for doing layoffs right.

Councilwoman Carol Hobby said it is like peeing in the ocean for the city to be cutting back on stamps while some bigger unnecessary costs are still being paid. She was speaking about the two part-time employees at the Senior Center whose hours were cut back by five each. She said they are needed because meals are served there daily.

Kohser said that when the city was formed, the citizens were hoping to keep the community the way it was. “The first thing was 2% sales tax,” Kohser said. “And Pinson, a younger city, has $2 million in funds.”