American Fork lays off three employees to meet budget priorities. Barbara Christiansen - Daily Herald

Three long-time American Fork City employees lost their jobs recently as the city looked for ways to balance the budget without requiring city employees to pay a share of their health insurance costs.

The budget, which the council passed in June, required initial cuts of about $140,000, which would enable the city to pay all employees' health insurance premiums.

City administrator Craig Whitehead reported to the council on Thursday that staff had come up with ways to cut approximately $113,000. Other savings are expected as the city is seeking better terms for its health care insurance offerings.

Those who lost their jobs are planning department head Rod Despain, secretary Cindy Parker and vehicle maintenance worker Bruce Carter.

City officials decided to combine the planning and engineering functions and move the planning personnel in with the engineering department. That allowed the combination of the support staff, and Despain's and Parker's jobs were no longer necessary. Whitehead also reported a decision to revamp the city's vehicle maintenance department, outsourcing the work.

Whitehead said the city was offering Despain a contract to continue as a part-time consultant. Despain has been with the city since the late 1970s.

"We wanted to retain his expertise, especially in water rights," he said. "We recognize that knowledge."

The decision was hard, Whitehead said.

"That is never easy to do when you eliminate jobs," he said. "It was a difficult time in the organization for all of us. We felt that we were fair in how we handled the elimination of the jobs. In the long term for the organization it is best for the city."

Mayor J.H. Hadfield agreed.

"A reduction in staff is always a difficult thing, but we didn't have much of a choice," he said in a telephone interview. "We looked at some positions where we could save some money. The net savings will ultimately impact about $200,000 when it is fully implemented."

The city will not save the full amount of the three employees' compensation this year, plus there may be unemployment payments, separation agreements and accrued benefit payouts, which impact this year's amount.

"It's a sad thing to do, but in the taxpayers' eyes we have to be as efficient as we can be," Hadfield said. "It was necessary and it was timely."

Despain was not immediately available for a response.

With the changes in planning, the city plans on declaring as surplus the trailer that sits on the west side of city, which has been the planning department's home for decades.

"That has always been an eyesore to me," Whitehead said. "Along with that, the working conditions for the planners were subpar."

At this stage, the city has not yet decided what to do with the planners. Senior planner Adam Olsen and associate planner Wendelin Knobloch may remain in a separate department or become part of the public works department.

"We are still analyzing the functions," Whitehead said.

Maintenance for larger vehicles has been outsourced; now the maintenance for all vehicles will be.

Whitehead said the city anticipated it would improve service and productivity as employees would not have to wait as long for the work to be done. Each department will now be responsible for maintaining records for its vehicles.

American Fork has more than 120 full-time employees, plus some permanent part-time workers and some temporary and seasonal staff.  Barbara Christianson. Daily Herald