In an emotional meeting, Monterey City Council delays a decision on layoffs.

UPDATED April 30: On Wednesday, April 29, Monterey City Council voted unanimously to implement the proposed layoff plan.

Original post:

It can be hard to convey emotion on a screen rather than in person, but city officials fought back tears on Tuesday night as they presented a dramatic layoff proposal to Monterey City Council. 

The city is facing an unprecedented sudden decline in revenue due to the Covid-19 shutdown, and is looking for ways to tighten the budget and also prepare for the worst—that a recovery could be a long time coming. 

“The situation is dire for the city of Monterey," City Manager Hans Uslar told City Council. City officials are projecting a $10 million loss for this fiscal year (which ends in June) due to Covid-19. 

The proposal, detailed by Human Resources Allyson Hauck, is to lay off 106 positions effective June 2. Of those, 23 positions are vacant, meaning 83 people would lose their jobs under the proposal, representing nearly 20 percent of the city's workforce. 

The jobs are primarily in the Monterey Public Library, Monterey Conference Center, parking division and Parks & Recreation. (You can view the full list in Hauck's report to City Council here.)

The positions were selected primarily because employees in these positions are not currently able to fulfill their normal job duties while the sports center, conference center and library are closed per the county's shelter-in-place order. 

“The ‘essential’ term is based on the order," Hauck said. "It is not whether or not we find value in these services."

Still, many employees and other members of the public spoke out strongly in support of keeping people on staff. “The morale in the city has never been lower, and that’s in over 13 years,” said Laura Pratt, chair of the General Employees of Monterey. 

Many called upon council to avoid layoffs if possible, instead considering dipping into the city's reserves or looking for other concessions first, and to treat layoffs as a last resort. 

“It’s a rainy day, and the city is fortunate to have rainy-day funds. Why not use them?” a negotiator representing employees said. 

The city attorney and city manager have agreed to take a 10-percent pay cut and defer scheduled increases, and department heads agreed to an 8-percent reduction in pay, Hauck said. 

The executive management team also sent a letter indicating they are willing to take a 10-percent reduction in pay. 

Hauck told the council that even with concessions from remaining employees, it's unlikely they can stop the bleeding. To make up for the layoff proposal, the entire city staff would have to agree to a 20-percent pay cut, across the board.

Council appeared to be prepared to approve Hauck's recommendation. 

"The recovery is not going to be as fast as we would like, especially here where we’re so dependent on tourism," Councilmember Alan Haffa said. "One-time funds only go so far. I think we need to support the staff recommendation." 

Uslar said that dipping into reserves at this early stage might mean more layoffs down the road. "Reserves, in my opinion, should not be used to sustain service levels for which we have no customers," Uslar said in a press briefing on Tuesday morning. "These are employees who are providing services that are not allowed to be delivered [due to shelter-in-place]." 

As the meeting approached midnight, Councilmember Tyller Williamson pushed for a delay, asking Hauck to first seek concessions and see whether there's an alternative to layoffs. Councilmember Ed Smith pushed back: “To delay and pretend we can be in the status quo is a dereliction of our responsibilities,” he said.

Haffa spoke up in favor of a delay—on such a drastic decision, the council should reach consensus, he said—and the council ultimately voted 5-0 to encourage Hauck to negotiate with employees for concessions, and return with proposed layoffs on Wednesday, April 29 at 4pm.