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What is this?
City leaders need to make case to public
Published Friday, October 2, 2009
I am lucky in that I have never been laid off.
I have come close on a couple of occasions. During the recession in the early 90s, I worked for a 200-person architecture firm that struggled to survive as major companies slashed their project budgets. I saw many friends leave my manager’s office, box up their belongings and wave good-bye as they walk out the door. Each time I was thankful that my position was spared.
Most managers will tell you that laying off a colleague is one of the hardest things to do. In most occasions layoffs are made when every other cost-cutting option has been considered.
Unfortunately, layoffs are necessary in most cases. For weeks, it appeared as if the city had finally reached this point. The only way to cut costs significantly in Natchez government was to cut employees. Everything else had been cut — even elected leaders’ salaries.
A considerable amount of planning is required in order for any layoffs to be effective. In most cases cutting employees does not cut the amount of work that needs to be accomplished. Cutting positions only shifts job responsibilities to other employees — who may or may not get compensated for added work. Cutting a secretary means the boss has to type letters and answer phones.
Planning what happens after the employees are cut may be more important than making the decision to cut the employees altogether.
If the mayor and board of aldermen are trying to project the image that they know what they are doing, recent actions only indicate otherwise.
In the current spate of layoffs, any planning obviously was derailed by leaking rumors to the community that the grants coordinator and others were going to be cut. Evidently with just a few protest letters, citizens convinced leaders to scrap an aspect of the cost-cutting plan they had for the city. How many letters would it have taken to take the rest off of the chopping block?
If there has ever been a time to layout for the community what happens after the public works director, the city planner and the majority of the planning office have been sent packing, now is the time.
At first glance it may seem smart to gut a department that has been a lightening rod for controversies ranging from Blue House to the Fat Mamas.
As these controversies simmered other important functions of the city continued.
What happens now to a department that has a track record over 20 years of bringing in more than a million dollars in grant money from the state and federal government to help re-roof Margaret Martin, renovate Memorial Hall and various other planning projects?
Do residents have a place to go to with questions about new projects or property disputes with their neighbors?
What happens to the various volunteer boards that depend on the expertise of professionals to make decisions about the health and welfare of our neighborhoods?
Do the current actions of the mayor and board of aldermen suggest that they do not support the rules by which we plan our town?
If so, they need to state this publicly, instead of hiding behind closed doors.
Ben Hillyer is the Web editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or by e-mail at ben.hillyer @natchezdemocrat.com.
Comments
Posted by natchez1 (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 12:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well said Ben.
For too many years we have had a revolving door of city planners. This had led to confusion and mistakes when there has been no planner.
Mr. Lewes was hired and moved to Natchez (something that several previous planners would not do) and he has done his job well. (He followed the regulations fairly). Yes some people were unhappy but many had started projects incorrectly prior to his arrival and he tried to correct mistakes made by former planners and staff.
He always seemed well prepared at the Preservation Commission meetings.
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 3:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We have also had a revolving door of poor mayors. Jake is gone. Who's next?
Posted by natchezGT (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 6:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mistake 08 - Let's Clean House
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 6:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Americans have become so lazy that to ask them to do more is close to asking them to sacrifice their first born. Every aspect of employment was over staffed prior to this recession. Oh wait, I now have to sharpen my own pencils better be a raise in there somewhere.
Posted by eagle1 (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 9:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Jake does not have a vote. We all knew layoffs were needed yet when it actually happens everyone whines and complains in the manner in which it was done. There is no good way to layoff someone.
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This headlines is a bit confuseing. The case was made to the public when they didn't lower the milage and our taxes were raised. What more do you want? Wake up, the hard times are coming on a slow train and haven't made it here yet. Next year will make this year look great.
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks eagle1. We all know that Natchez has a weak-mayor form of government. And our current mayor is the weakest of the weak. I haven't for a minute believed that Jake was leading these layoffs. He's only being led along for the ride by the real acting mayor.
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 1:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The mayor's position isn't weak. He is privy to or should be to everything going on in this city government. As far as I know he isn't a mute. He might turn the board and voters against him for re-election but he could state his opinion and stop combing his hair.
Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 4:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Jake isn't mute...he simply has yet to stand up.
In our form of city government it is up to the BOA to make the decisions, with the mayor there only to manage their meetings and vote in case of a tie. But his job is also that of a leader and he needs his own agenda. He needs his own plan, and he needs to twist some arms and coerce the board into doing things his way. He had a plan when he was running...he told us all what he was going to do if elected...we elected him. So get to it, Mr Mayor.
That means playing hard ball. He cannot be intimidated by one loud mouth's threats. He can't be intimidated by anyone's race or whose friends with whom, who is someone's relative or whatever. He can't be intimidated by those not focused on the job they were elected to do because they are too focused on running against Jake in the next election. It means making unpopular decisions, stepping on some toes, and maybe actually having to tell someone to sit down and shut up.
And it's easy for me to sit here safe within the confines of my own womb-world in cyberspace and tell him what to do....what was it Teddy Roosevelt said?
"The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at the best, know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
---all I can say is ...strive valiantly, Jake.
--mojo
Posted by jammin1 (anonymous) on October 2, 2009 at 10:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I keep hearing how Jake doesn't have a vote, but I would like to know if he has the descretion to VETO something the BOA passes!
Does he?
Nearly every mayor of any town has that option available. Is Natchez any different?
Posted by gottabehappy (anonymous) on October 3, 2009 at 6:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Most people never have been either Ben.
Talk about tooting your own horn.
Posted by southernbelle (anonymous) on October 3, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ben, I am 50+ years old and I have had a job since I was 12 yrs. old . I have NEVER been laid off until a month ago. I was told it was because Tourisn in Natchez was down and the DAR wanted the mgr. to cut expenses. I know my job performance was very good because of the feedback I received from our out of town guest. It hurts more than your pocketbook. Our unemplyment rate is 9.8% in this country. That is the hightest it has been in at least 26 yrs. Meanwhile , our president spends money and precious time trying to promote the 2016 olympics for Chicago while many very important issues are put on hold back at the White House. Health care, poverty, jobless Americans and lets not forget our military,just to name a few. While the pres is out gallivanting all over the world we have soldiers being killed in foreign places. At least President Bush made sure the American Generals had whatever they needed to aid and protect our soliers and win a war. This guy in there now knows squat about the military and how to protect this country.
Posted by southernbelle (anonymous) on October 3, 2009 at 12:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Another thing that concerns me is, What is going to happen to all these people that are laid off and cannot afford to purchase health insurance when this healthcare reform bill goes through? Will they be fined? not all will be able to collect unemployment.
Posted by NatchezBooster (anonymous) on October 4, 2009 at 5:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I posted these comments under Kevin's editorial, but I think they apply to this one as well, so here goes. And I want to preface this by saying that I do like Jake personally, but what I'm hearing from him about his lack of interest in public opinion and this awful situation makes me very concerned.
I hope that Jake does hear what people are saying about his leadership skills. I hope that Jake does hear that the voters who put him in office are extremely unhappy and angry. I hope that Jake realizes that many people in this city think that he's letting one person on the BOA control what goes on in the city. Because if he doesn't hear all this, he's a one term mayor for sure, and I know for a fact that he doesn't want to be a one term mayor.
I'm not trashing the man, I'm just stating facts. I've spoken to him on many occassions and what concerns me grealty is that he seems completely out of touch with the people who put him in office. That's not good. In fact, it's goes against his oath of office and everything he said he stood for when he was running.
True, he has no vote unless there is a tie. Natchez has what known as a strong-board-weak-mayor system. But that doesn't mean that he's a just a ribbon-cutting figurehead (if that were the case, the mayor's job would be part-time and pay about $18,000 per year).
Instead, it's the mayor's job to build coalitions on the board of aldermen to ensure that he does get to participate in votes. All he has to do is get 3 of them on board. Often, he can avoid voting all together by getting 4 or more on board.
What I'm hearing from Jake and from bloggers on other articles (ones who support him, mind you) is that our Mayor has just thrown his hands in the air and opted out of this latest disaster, along the lines of: "I don't have a vote so it's not my fault".
My question to my friend Jake is this: Why am I NOT hearing you say "I'm opposed to the actions of the board in so-in-so's case and I'm angry and disgusted with the leaks from executive session and I promise the citizens that I will begin an investigation to get to the bottom of this immediately."
That's what I want to hear from my mayor and that would show some leadership that I haven't seen yet. Leadership does not equal ignoring all of this because that's what the majority of the BOA want to do. Leadership is not the stance that it's better just to forget that someone is leaking confidental personnel information all over town like a rusty pipe.
Sweeping things under the carpet while you laugh and joke and make inappropriate comments to the media about it is not leadership, and its not what the citizens of Natchez want in a mayor.
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