City doesn’t value its employees

As we are all aware, organizational changes happen all the time due to various reasons, with budget problems being near the top. The city of Mountlake Terrace seems to reduce the number of employees by lay-offs and then tries to compensate by consolidating positions or contracting out the work in an attempt to save money. Does the city receive the same level of service? No; services suffer when trying to do it at a cut-rate level. My concern is the way personnel issues are handled, and the seemingly trivial approach when dealing with employees. No matter what management might say, actions show that valuing employees is not as important as saving money.

After working for the city for over seven years, I was notified that my position has been eliminated and my last day would be Dec. 31. While supervising the facilities department, the level of maintenance increased, significant projects accomplished, and anybody knew they could ask facilities for help with anything. Evidently, this service cost too much because the city laid-off the custodians earlier this year, and now it’s my turn. This is interesting because the number of buildings to maintain hasn’t changed, nor has the strategic planning gone away.

Losing my job is not the worst part, it is the mysterious underlying issues associated with it. The budget amendment said it was due to attrition and the facilities duties would be consolidated with the Parks Department. The situation in my case is not attrition, it is simply laying-off; and the idea of a person with no experience in facility management being promoted in order to take over the duties, just doesn’t make sense. Well, so much for the value of a facilities professional.

So, after seven years with Mountlake Terrace, I am invited to leave employment without a thank you of any kind. Now that’s a Merry Christmas isn’t it. To quote a regularly heard line at work, “It’s not personal, it’s business.”

Jim Johnston

Kenmore