In an attempt to get City College out of a $3.1 million budget deficit, 11 out of the 18 reported requests for vacant positions will not be replaced this year as a part of the Workforce Reduction Through Attrition Plan.
Superintendent-President Dr. Anthony Beebe explained at the College Planning Council meeting Tuesday, Nov. 21, that they went as far down on the list of ranked vacant positions as they could to ‘‘to sustain.’’
On Friday, Nov. 17, Beebe sent out an email containing the finalized list of which of the ranked positions will be replaced. The list passed at the council meeting with a unanimous vote.
“Although we’ve used the wrap in previous occasions, we are really making history in terms of how we are using it this time,’’ Beebe said.
‘‘It is a broader use, it is a different use and it is a longer-term use.’’
A committee ranked all vacant positions, not including faculty, submitted by the different departments for request before a set deadline in October. The finalized rankings included a total 18 positions, 10 replacements and eight brand new.
The next step in the process was to look over the budget and see how far down the ranked positions the school could afford to go. Some of the positions that will remain vacant is a dean of educational programs, marketing and creative services manager and biology laboratory technician, to mention a few.
The school is still $270,100 short of reaching its goal of savings for the year, according to the financial projections. This was explained during the meeting to not be a big problem, assuming that some positions will go vacant during Spring semester.
‘‘Our goal was to not replace 12 positions, and we are actually, according to the document, not replacing 11 positions now,’’ said Kathleen O’Connor, physical education department chair.
‘‘So although the money isn’t quite there, the numbers of positions is really close. So in Spring, we should be in pretty good shape.’’
‘‘I’m not worried about it,’’ added Beebe.
The Council also discussed how to deal with the replacement of vacant grant-funded positions, something that is not included in the Workforce Reduction Through Attrition Plan. It became clear that a procedure on how to deal with grant-funded positions already existed, but had not been followed.
‘‘There are a few right now that we have funding for, that we haven’t hired,’’ said Lyndsay Maas, vice president of business services. She explained that this was because the Workforce Reduction Through Attrition Plan caused the college to pause and rethink.
The council agreed on the need to get better and start using the guidelines. Academic Senate President Priscilla Butler pointed out that it is important to let the public know what the school does with the grants it receives.
‘‘I think the million and millions of dollars that we receive every year from these other sources might be of some interest for people as well,’’ she said.
