Board Recommends Layoff of 7 on Irvine Redevelopment Staff

The city Finance Commission on Monday voted to recommend the layoffs of seven employees in the community development department.

In a report prepared for the commission, City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. recommended the layoffs as a way to deal with a projected $1.1-million loss in development-related fees. Assistant City Manager Bernard Strojny, who presented Brady’s report to the commission, said the employees are no longer needed because of slower-than-expected building in Irvine.

The City Council will consider the layoffs next Tuesday. The layoff would be the largest since the city incorporated in 1971.

All seven of the positions proposed to be eliminated are filled. Five are full-time, Strojny said.

Affected employees are being notified this week of the proposed layoffs, Strojny said. The positions to be eliminated are mostly building inspectors and plan checkers.

In June, the City Council voted to lay off three development-related employees, despite objections from Brady, who said the layoffs were premature. But Brady said at that time he would be willing to recommend future layoffs, if warranted by a decrease in development projects.

The proposed layoffs are unrelated to a major internal review the city has been conducting to determine how best to structure city government, City Councilwoman Paula Werner said. Werner is a member of the city organizational review committee, which will release its report and recommendations to city employees and the rest of the City Council on Thursday.

The council will review the report during its Tuesday meeting.