City laying off 11 employees

With Maricopa desperately trying to balance its budget for the coming fiscal year, 11 city staff members will be losing their jobs, including three high-level employees – Community Services Director Marty McDonald, City Engineer Karen Wonders and Budget Manager Corrine Wilcox-Cornn.

A statement from the city said McDonald’s position was being “downsized,” which would “necessitate the department to continue in a different direction without diminishing the services.”

The city listed 10 positions that were being eliminated, about 15 percent of the workforce at City Hall, including an assistant planner, administrative assistant, building inspector, permit technician, a Geographic Information Systems Technician from Support Services Department and three consultants from the Development Services Department.

“Just because this is the prudent business decision, it is not any less difficult,” said City Manager Kevin Evans in the statement. “These co-workers have been part of our team and we will miss their contributions.”

Evans added that a majority of the staff reductions were in the city’s Development Services Department, which has seen a precipitous drop in volume of work given that the recession has slowed Maricopa’s growth to a fraction of what it was during the housing boom.

Councilman Joe Estes said he had “very mixed feelings” about the staff reductions. “All the employees do an excellent job; they’re good for the city and the community,” he said. “The downside is we’re in a severe economic downturn.”

As director of the Community Services Department, McDonald oversaw the Parks, Recreation and Libraries division and many of the city’s special events such as the Salsa Festival and Founders’ Day. There have been recent hints that the city would like to reduce its role, particularly from a financial standpoint, in such festivities, with the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce possibly having a greater hand in the events.

“That way, it doesn’t all fall on the city’s shoulders to manage and run those events,” Estes said. “Those take up a lot of planning and implementation hours.”

He added that he didn’t foresee any potential changes to the Community Service Department as having a detrimental effect on its various youth activities.

Wilcox-Cornn has been on paid administrative leave since April 24. Evans said again Monday that he could not comment to the reason behind placing her on leave. In her absence, Nicole Dailey, assistant to the city manager, and Finance Director Cynthia Sneed have taken over the main responsibilities of crafting the 2010 fiscal year budget, which the City Council will review in a session Tuesday evening.

In a budget and finance subcommittee meeting Thursday, Dailey and Sneed summarized some of the proposed changes to the general fund budget, which is dropping to a projection of $25.5 million, a steep drop from the current year’s amount of $37.6 million.

In letting go McDonald, Wilcox-Cornn and Wonders, Maricopa will save about $275,000 in the trio’s salaries.

“It’s always a tough decision,” Evans said. “We’re going to have to cut back to make ends meet.”

Evans added the employees can remain on staff through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Photo by Jake Johnson