Following a City Council directive to close a $425,000 budget shortfall without raising property taxes, Statesboro City Manager Shane Haynes announced Thursday the elimination of six positions from the police and fire departments, including the termination of Police Chief Stan York and Fire Chief Dennis Merrifield.
    Haynes said the newly created position of public safety director would oversee both departments and that police Capt. Wendell Turner has accepted the job, effective immediately. Haynes said neither York nor Merrifield was considered for the position.
    A commander for the fire and police departments will oversee the operations of each department and will report to the public safety director. SPD Major J.R. Holloway was appointed police commander Thursday and will be the immediate supervisor for that department. Haynes said the position of fire commander has not been filled and that a job search will start in the next couple of weeks.
     Haynes said he and his staff looked at job duties, not individuals, to determine which positions would be eliminated. He also said cutting positions and letting people go is a part of his job he never relishes.
    “We looked at positions and how we could make city government more efficient without jeopardizing the safety of our citizens,” Haynes said. “We did not look at names.
    “It’s just difficult when it involves people and their careers and their livelihoods. This is the most difficult part of this job by a far stretch,” Haynes said. “It’s the least appealing part as well when you have to speak with someone and make a tough decision like this because it does impact them as people and their families – and that’s not lost on me.”
    In addition to York at the police department, Lt. Frank Roach’s position was eliminated and he will retire, Haynes said. Also, Holloway’s major position would not be replaced and Capt. Mike Chappel, who oversaw communications and training, was moved into a vacant lieutenant position as his captain’s slot was eliminated from the payroll as well.
    In addition to Merrifield at the fire department, Haynes said the positions of fire captains Emerson Melton and Mike Smith were eliminated and both men were let go Thursday afternoon.
    The new public safety management structure is effective immediately.
     
Mayor, council reaction
    Mayor Joe Brannen said he was supportive of the staff’s recommendation and the council’s decision to combine and restructure the city’s police and fire departments as a way to balance next year’s budget.
    “I think all of us know that people, when you talk about tax increases, that (they) don’t want to have them,” Brannen said. “So we looked at this and what we could do to find the funds to balance the budget.”
    Councilman Will Britt said eliminating these positions was a difficult decision to make.
    “We’re in very tough budget times,” Britt said. “Shane came up with a solution for us to be able to offer the same services and the same service delivery that we’re offering now by unfortunately eliminating some positions that are in the administrative realm of public safety. It was a very tough decision.”
    At the city’s budget retreat held in April, the council was faced with the task of balancing the budget in the face of a severe economic downturn. Haynes said not only is the city facing a dramatic decline in revenues, but also a sizeable reduction in the electric and cable franchise fees collected by the city. Consumer cut backs on electrical use resulted in lower collections for the city as did Georgia Southern’s decision to leave Northland Cable and provide their own cable service for on-campus residents – the latter costing the city approximately $25,000 annually.
    Councilman Travis Chance said he was one of the loudest voices against raising the property tax millage rate. He said that during the retreat he was unsure how the city would balance the budget but that he was adamantly opposed to raising taxes.
    “We did not have any preconceived notions of moves we were going to make and anything we did was done respectfully,” Chance said. “We value every single person that we were forced to make the decision. This casts no aspersions on them. They did the best they could with the jobs they were given. This is just something we’ve been forced to deal with and I think we did it as respectfully and as well as we possibly could.”
    Haynes said Councilmen Gary Lewis, Tommy Blitch and John Riggs were informed of the restructuring and supported the action.
     
Termination options
    Haynes said the four employees whose positions were eliminated Thursday were offered individualized options, but none of the four can remain in the city’s employ. Haynes would not elaborate on the details of the options because the employees have until Monday to make a decision. York is eligible for full retirement should he choose to retire.
    Also, each has the right to appeal their termination to Haynes within five days. Haynes said he was not part of the meetings in which the employees were notified of the terminations to avoid a conflict with the appeals process.
    “We learned from our mistakes,” Britt said. “We asked Shane to make this a human resources and staff attorney matter.”
    Human Resources Manager Jeffrey Grant and Staff Attorney Michael Graves handled the meetings with the employees.
    In all, Haynes said the personnel moves will amount to about $480,000 in budget reductions.
    Haynes said he is confident the fire protection and safety of citizens will not be compromised by the loss of six police and fire positions.
    “We’re losing a lot of years of experience. But in terms of on-street officers, those that are actually out on the beat patrolling, it’s not going to affect their ability to patrol. We think that this structure is going to allow us to grow our proficiency in the future,” Haynes said. “By sheer force of where the budgets are across the country, more and more cities are going to have to look at this model as an opportunity.”
     
Other departments
    Haynes said council and staff will study other cost-saving measures to reduce waste in the city’s budget and look more in depth at trimming mid and upper management positions in other city departments, if the moves don’t harm services to citizens and are cost efficient.
     “Absolutely. I’m not saying we’re going to do that but I think council’s challenge has been to look at each department and determine if we have mid to upper level management positions that are unnecessary or that can be combined into one position,” Haynes said. “So we will be definitely looking in other departments city wide as we move forward – particularly our larger departments – to see if we can become more efficient. And not only from a staffing perspective but just in a general delivery of services. This is just part of the process of trying to make sure we’re as efficient as we can be and that’s not going to stop – we’re going to continue on with that.”