BRIDGEPORT — They represent the human side of the city's budget crisis — a half-inch-thick stack of layoff notices sent to selected city workers.

Mayor Bill Finch's administration on Wednesday and Thursday began complying with a request from the Connecticut Post, filed under state Freedom of Information law, for copies of layoff notices sent to city workers as the city struggles to balance the budget for the next fiscal year.

The city at first rejected the newspaper's request, but City Attorney Mark Anastasi overruled Associate City Attorney Melanie Howlett, who claimed release of the notices constituted an invasion of privacy.

As of Thursday, the administration had provided the newspaper with 76 layoff notices, 14 shy of the 90 notices Finch has said are being sent out as a way to cut spending in his proposed 2008-09 budget.

Kaitlin Lesnick, Finch's press secretary, said the remaining notices will be released as department heads make decisions regarding who will lose jobs.

The layoffs are supposed to save the city about $2.5 million annually at the two hardest hit departments alone — school-based health clinics and the public libraries.

Lesnick said employees who received layoff notices may be able to "bump" other employees with less seniority and retain employment with the city. Bumping rights are spelled out in each union contract, and usually require that an equivalent job is available in a different department.

The layoffs are also

Advertisement
contingent on the City Council adopting Finch's proposed $491 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The council could restore funding to avoid layoffs, although the mayor would still be able to veto the budget if he chose.

Meanwhile, the layoff notices provided to the Post indicate that several divisions within the city's Health Department would be virtually gutted.

For example, 32 nurses and nurse practitioners received notices, along with eight employees in the dental office. Those employees form the core of the city's school health clinics, and the loss of the jobs will effectively wipe out the clinics.

In a bid to retain health services at the city schools, the mayor and a newly appointed committee are exploring the option of having private, nonprofit agencies manage the clinics.

One nurse who received a layoff notice, Bertha Conte, is the wife of Associate City Attorney Greg Conte.

Overall, 54 layoff notices were sent to Health Department employees. Those include seven dental hygienists and dentist Scott Dillard, the husband of Health Director Marian Evans. Other layoff notices were sent to three outreach workers, two clinic supervisors, three site coordinators, one social worker, a senior medical assistant and two medical assistants.

Other Health Department functions, such as environmental services, sanitation, lead poison prevention, and communicable disease prevention and monitoring, were not hit by layoffs.

Katherine Gredinger, supervisor for the school health clinics, said some of her workers began resigning before layoff notices went out. The union representing the public health nurses has been waging a high-profile campaign to preserve the clinics as they are now constituted and opposing Finch's privatization plan.

The notices also show that 15 librarians have been told they will be laid off, including Mary Witkowski, the longtime head of the library's historical collections. She is also the city historian.

City officials said seven more library workers are being identified for possible layoffs, bringing the total to 22.

Three other positions at the libraries would not be filled if Finch's budget were adopted by the City Council. There are 68 library employees funded in this year's city budget.

Library officials say the layoffs also would likely force the closing of several branch libraries.

The remaining municipal layoffs are spread among several departments.

Two employees at the city attorney's office received layoff notices — a collection aide and administrator Kathleen Pacacha, the wife of Associate City Attorney Ron Pacacha. Other employees who received layoff notices include a service assistant at the Department of Public Facilities, a traffic coordinator, a service assistant at the Parks Department, a special projects coordinator at the Fire Department and a police telecommunications officer.

All the notices inform employees that the layoff is effective June 27, if the budget is adopted as proposed.