Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Fire Chief Rocco Forte today met with the 32 firefighters who were laid off last spring in the face of state Local Government Aid (LGA) cuts to announce they are working on a plan to hire them back. Council President Paul Ostrow, Ways and Means Chair Barbara Johnson and Public Safety Chair Dan Niziolek also met with the firefighters.
"Protecting public safety is our number one priority, and we haven't forgotten about you. I asked Chief Forte to work on a strategy to bring the firefighters back, and his plan has my full support," Mayor Rybak told the firefighters. Council Members Ostrow, Johnson and Niziolek also expressed their support for Chief Forte's plan. Two key strategies are helping free up the necessary revenue: 1. Making tough choices early meant saving jobs over the long term. If the City had not been willing to make tough choices about layoffs early last spring, twice as many firefighters would have been laid off. 2. Eliminating duplication by combining inspections currently done by the Inspections Department with inspections work the Fire department is already doing. Having firefighters take over additional inspections work in their down time will transfer this revenue directly to the Fire Department. "Moving housing inspections is a big reform for city government. But it's the right thing to do to give taxpayers the best bang for the buck in tough budget times like this," Mayor Rybak said. "Every dollar we save in efficiencies is going to hire back firefighters. Getting all 32 back is our goal." Mayor Rybak will include financial details of this proposal in his 2004 budget, which will be delivered to the City Council on August 14. Laura Sether Office of Mayor Rybak Standish-Ericsson TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
