BUTTREY FOR MONTANA issued the following announcement on April 22.
How city employees are spending their time during the COVID-19 shutdown and preparations to reopen the city were discussed at a Great Falls City Commission meeting Tuesday.
Commissioner Rick Tryon praised the city's workforce but asked if steps had been taken to reduce personnel expenses, and also how employees working from home were being monitored.
Residents had posed those questions to him, he said.
"There are so many people now in Great Falls in the private sector who are out of work, they don't have jobs," Tryon said. "A lot of them aren't going to have jobs to come back to either."
City Manager Greg Doyon said others had raised similar questions.
"Just to be clear, the city did not shut down businesses," Doyon noted.
To date, no layoffs, furloughs or pay cuts have been implemented for full-time employees, Doyon said.
But if the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic is extended, alternatives will need to be considered, Doyon added.
"That very well might be layoffs," Doyon said.
Between 15 and 20 seasonal employees in the Park and Recreation Department have filed for unemployment, Doyon said.
The five members of the Commission participated in the meeting from their homes via teleconferencing to meet social distancing requirements in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that's kept many of the city's businesses and work places silent for the past month.
If the city is faced with laying off employees, it will need to give 30 days notice, said Doyon, noting most employees are members of collective bargaining units.
Employees working from home are being asked to keep work logs with department heads responsible for monitoring their productivity, Doyon said.
"There has to be some measure of trust the employees are doing what they've been asked to do," Doyon said.
Original source here.
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