Talk of inevitable layoffs in Modesto City Hall circled for months with numbers but no names. This week, the city's budget crisis got a face. Tuesday, Deputy Public Works Director Firoz Vohra made a late appeal to keep his job overseeing traffic planning. His position is one of 10 being cut because of a drop in gas tax revenue.
City Clerk Stephanie Lopez followed City Council procedures and cut him off after he spoke for five minutes. "After 21 years, if you can only give me five minutes, that says something," Vohra said as he left the lectern and returned to a seat in the council chamber. The exchange closed a nearly five-hour meeting Vohra sat through to make his case that his experience would save money and improve safety. "After 21 years, it's a little tough to cut him off because he's earned his right working for the citizens," Councilman Dave Lopez said. "But at the same time, the discussions have already happened and he knew that. It wasn't the time."
Private employers have faced difficult decisions about downsizing and layoffs over the past two years while the region's foreclosure crisis expanded and the recession set in. Those trends finally have landed at City Hall, which had averted the worst cuts until this month. It's a tense time in city government, with labor groups casting final votes on a furlough proposal that saves jobs but costs employees about 5 percent of their wages over the next three months. Four rank-and-file unions approved the proposal, meaning police officers, firefighters, nonsworn employees in the public safety departments and blue collar workers will participate in the furloughs. Two management bargaining groups — the Modesto Confidential and Management Association and the Modesto Police Management Association — rejected the furloughs and likely will see layoffs earlier than the unions participating in furloughs.
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FAMILY TIES On the Hive: Adam Ashton's After Deadline blog
Tough labor negotiations over budget cuts in Modesto City Hall have Mayor Jim Ridenour and his brother, police Sgt. Doug Ridenour Sr., taking a break from talking about work. The mayor is asking all city employees to take 32 hours of unpaid furlough time by June 30 to shrink a $2 million budget shortfall. The sergeant is a member of the Modesto Police Management Association, which has rejected that proposal. Its members face layoffs or demotions earlier than other labor groups because they passed on the furloughs. "My brother will not talk to me," the mayor said. "I understand where he's coming from. I put him in a very difficult situation."
The sergeant was his brother's re-election campaign manager in November 2007. "I try to maintain respect for his position, and he does the same for me," the sergeant said. The sergeant's son, police officer Doug Ridenour Jr., is a member of the Modesto Police Officers Association, which supported the furlough proposal.
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