The mayor of Lawrence says "Definitely some balls were dropped on this one" His city was supposed to save tens of thousands of dollars after laying off eight firefighters a few months ago
But those men are still getting paid for sitting at home
The mayor told the Lawrence Eagle Tribune that the city hasn't saved a dime from those layoffs and is still paying the firefighters with money the city doesn't have
Why are they still being paid? Turns out those firefighters have the right to a civil hearing where the city must prove the layoffs were justified. The mayor says the hearing officer hired by the city a month ago still hasn't released his report.
Now the mayor regrets his decision, saying if he knew it would come to this he wouldn't have let those men go which resulted in closing two fire stations
There's a chance the city could rehire those men with $521,000 if just received in federal stimulus funds. If they don't , the severance package for the men would cost around $100,000 in addition to unemployment compensation the city would have to cough up
The mayor says "Once again it comes down to a government bureaucratic issue that just gets in the way of doing the right thing"
