During a city council workshop Tuesday night, City Manager Ed Burchins asked council for clarification on how he should handle filling positions.
"Are we looking at just trying to hold onto that position and not hire for another year, or is the goal to evaluate whether or not it is needed?" Burchins asked. "What is it the board hopes to achieve?
"Most hiring freezes mean once the job becomes vacant, that's it, we don't fill it," Burchins said.
"I think we should just evaluate each one as it comes open," Mayor Matthew Block said.
Both Councilman Tommy Parker and Councilwoman Amanda Faulk agreed with Block.
However, Councilman Curtis Leak felt the city should put a hold altogether on filling vacant positions.
"We are in the middle of a recession," Leak said. "For the last three years, we said let's go into the freeze."
Leak said cross-training employees will make the workforce more versatile and allow departments to share employees.
"We need to be more frugal and do what we need to do," Leak said.
The discussion occurred when Finance Director Cindy Carpenter discussed the need to fill a vacant meter reading position.
The city had four positions, but only two are filled. Since the city is in the process of changing to automatic meter reading, only three are expected to be needed in the future so when a position came open earlier, the city chose not to fill it.
Now that a second meter reader has left, it leaves the other two overstretched and could be a major problem if one is sick or tries to take a vacation, Carpenter said.
Councilmen were concerned about hiring a new person because that position might not be needed in four to six months once the automated system is fully operational.
"Where's that person going to go?" Parker asked.
Burchins said if there is not another city spot they can transition into, a layoff is an acceptable solution.
"We can reduce the force," Burchins said. "We can tell people there is no longer a job for them. It is done quite often. That's done quite often in the business world – it's not a new concept."
Carpenter said the position will likely be needed as the automated meter system will require maintenance.
The city also heard:
• The budget for the city of Laurinburg is on target after the first four months, Carpenter said. A third of the fiscal year has passed and the city has spent $2,566,474 of a $7,978,954 budget, or about 32 percent of anticipated spending.
• Changing from weekly collection to biweekly collection with commingling has cut recycling expenses in half, said Harold Haywood, general services director. In 2005-2006, total city expenses was $291,467. In 2008-2009, the expense was $149,687.
• Some stimulus funds may be available to the city, according to Bill Riemer, director of administration and development. While the first round of stimulus funds was for shovel-ready projects, Riemer believes that the second round will allow other projects to come to fruition. The city will look at funding studies on several possible projects at its Tuesday meeting.
• Riemer told council that the first round of stimulus funds did help the city through Department of Transportation projects. The $2.5 million Lauchwood Drive project would have been delayed had funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act not been allocated. He also said DOT now plans to do other local road improvement projects with resurfacing on Main Street and West Boulevard with money freed up by stimulus funds.
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