INS Cost Cutting Could Mean End to 115 O.C. Jobs : Employment: Proposed reorganization would mean transfer of some administrative duties to centers in other regions.

Officials at the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Thursday announced an agencywide cost-cutting proposal that could mean the loss of 115 administrative jobs at the offices in Laguna Niguel.

The reorganization proposal, which wouldn’t affect the agency’s Border Patrol duties, would shift the local center’s personnel, payroll and finance duties to INS centers in other regions of the country.

The trimmed-back Laguna Niguel office would be left responsible for the agency’s car fleet and safety program nationwide.

One angry INS personnel worker said the mood was “disbelief” and “sadness” after workers in Laguna Niguel were briefed on the proposal during a staff meeting Thursday morning.

“We haven’t been given any information in terms of what happens to us,” said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Staffers do not know if they will end up jobless or be asked to follow jobs to INS regional centers in Minnesota, Vermont and Dallas.

“I just bought a new house,” said the employee. “Orange County is suffering enough. This is going to take 100-and-something more people from the area.”

The Laguna Niguel office currently administers payroll, personnel and finance matters for about 6,500 INS employees based in the agency’s Western Region, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Guam.

Under the proposed reorganization, 115 of the approximately 150 administrative positions at the Laguna Niguel headquarters and a satellite office in Bell would be lost as some of its paperwork functions are centralized within the various regional offices. The consolidation would affect about 300 INS employees nationwide.

Under the proposal, the agency’s payroll duties would be centralized at a facility in Vermont, and its personnel management functions based in St. Paul, Minn. Finance work currently done in Laguna Niguel would be shifted to a center in Dallas.

The consolidation would begin in July and be completed by September, 1996, according to the INS reorganization proposal distributed to workers on Thursday.

If the plan is approved, the administrative office in Laguna Niguel would manage the agency’s health and safety program and vehicle fleet and continue running a center in Bell that distributes INS forms to the public and agency offices.

The reorganization would save an estimated $4.7 million nationwide over five years, according to the documents.

Officials at the INS have said they hope to implement the changes without laying off any workers but have not detailed how, said Chuck McCullough, acting director of the Laguna Niguel administrative center.

McCullough, who delivered the news to workers Thursday, said options could include retraining, early retirement or transfers. Details will be available in the next week or so, before the matter goes to Congress later this month, he said.

McCullough acknowledged the widespread uncertainty among his workers, who learned for the first time how large the cuts might be.

“There’s a black cloud hanging over everyone’s head and we’ll have to deal with that,” he said.

After the briefing, some staffers immediately protested the proposal to the state’s two U.S. senators and to congressional representatives.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said through a spokesman that she had not been briefed on the proposal, but planned to bring the matter up during committee hearings next week on immigration matters.