City postpones hiring freeze

City Manager Robert Bartolotta received permission from commissioners Tuesday to hold off on any potential hiring freezes until September.

Bartolotta recommended the commission hold off on any potential freezes, because there wasn’t a substantial savings (only eight jobs are currently open) and crucial hirings need to be made in the police department and at the newly completed Robert L. Taylor Center.

If a freeze were to be enacted now, some hirings that were already pending would have to be nixed.

Vice Mayor Terry Turner, who suggested the commission consider a hiring freeze, agreed to wait until September to discuss a freeze when the budget is discussed on first and second readings.

Bartolotta plans to produce for the commissioners a list in September that shows what the city can save by possibly implementing hiring freezes for three months, six months or longer.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].