Downsizing?

I thought the city manager said they were reducing the number of people in the city building? The Journal had some jobs listed in the Saturday edition. The city of Middletown has an administrative assistant's job open in the Public Works Department. Pay range is $34,000 to $42,000 depending on experience. Doesn't sound like she is trying too hard to reduce the number of people, does it? Can't parts of the admin. assist. position in Public Works be farmed out to other admin. assist's already on the payroll? How about hiring a temp. at a much cheaper rate than that and not have to pay for a benefits package plus put money into a retirement fund either????

swohio, administrative assistants are non-union positions in the city. It is the police, fire and municipal workers that are the union employees. (At least, i think so; if this is incorrect, I'm sure we'll find out shortly! lol). Any non-union job within the city is employment at the discretion of the city manager and department head. It does seem odd to say we're broke but we're going to hire new staff. The real questions should be: is there a justifiable need? Are there alternatives that accomplish the same thing? Will the work done by the new hire constitute an ROI worth the expense?  I would imagine that the city manager and department head have considered these questions and decided a new hire is justified. If someone questions either the logic or the wisdom of this action, my thought is to go to the council meeting and ask or go to one of the open forums that councilpersons are having and ask. he mayor asked for more citizen participation; take him at his word.