Employees object to city layoffs

Objectors argued the layoffs will cost money, not save it.
By KANTELE FRANKO
VINDICATOR staff writer
CAMPBELL -- Representatives from the police and fire departments offered strong objections Wednesday night to Mayor Jack Dill's laying off eight full-time city employees because the sale of the city's water treatment plant has been postponed.
A referendum petition submitted last week and signed by 441 residents forces the city to postpone the proposed sale of the water plant to Aqua Ohio until citizens vote on the move in the November 2006 election.
In the proposed agreement, Aqua would pay about $11 million over 10 years to operate and eventually own the plant.
Dill said because the city is projecting a deficit of more than $400,000 for next year, the referendum forced him to indefinitely lay off 14 employees -- four full-time policemen, five part-time officers, three full-time firefighters and a cashier. About 25 people showed up to Wednesday's city council meeting to hear public discussion on the issue.
The brief meeting ended with comments from the public. Former council president and mayoral candidate Robert Yankle spoke in opposition to the layoffs and the decision to sell the plant, arguing that the city of Youngstown was interested in operating and buying the plant.
"Councilmen, wake up," Yankle said. "This city is on it's last leg. It's time to start regionalization. Youngstown is interested."
But after the session ended, Dill provided some of those in attendance with copies of a letter contradicting Yankle's claims.
The Sept. 26 letter from Youngstown Water Commissioner Charles Sammarone to Dill notes that Youngstown can sell treated water to Campbell but "does not have the expertise to operate your water treatment plant."
Youngstown doesn't operate a water treatment plant. It buys treated water from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District for resale to its customers.
Safety forces
Police and fire department representatives also spoke out against the layoffs.
"Running a fire department with three guys, someone is going to get seriously, seriously hurt," firefighter Gregory Rosile said.
Police Detective Sgt. Gus Nicolaou said his calculations showed the city would lose money in paying unemployment costs and overtime for the remaining officers, who will work 60 or more hours each week.
"I don't disagree with the figures," Dill said, adding that the city likely will lose money in the first year but have a savings of nearly $300,000 in each of the following years.
"It's the hardest thing in the world to lay people off, but we have done everything [else] we could," he said.
Dill said city administrators have received "numerous" calls from citizens who signed the referendum petition but wanted their names removed after learning more about the ramifications of their actions. Dill said he believes the petition would have less than the 256 names required to force a referendum if those residents could get their names removed.