[August 07, 2010] Part-time city workers make around $20 per hour Tweet CHEYENNE, Aug 07, 2010 (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- At least two retired city employees have been called to work part time in the mayor's office and the Cheyenne City Council office. In both cases, they are making the wages they did when they departed -- $20.73 and $29.50 an hour. Councilwoman Judy Case brought this issue up Monday when the council met briefly to approve the vouchers. She was just as chagrined afterward. "Are we in financial trouble, or are we not in financial trouble," she asked. She was referring to the constant stream of bad news that flowed out of city hall in recent months: Staff reductions through buyouts and layoffs, disappointing sales tax revenues, a delayed $1 million payment for a water utility project, cutbacks for the parks and recreation department and no swimming this summer at Sloans Lake. Why not instead hire someone from a temp agency to answer phones and take minutes for the committee meeting, she asked. Mayor Rick Kaysen said the two employees were called in to fill a staffing shortage in his office, which has been reduced in the past year from 3 to 1.5 people through attrition. He contacted the two former employees to fill in when the administrative assistant took a few vacation days a couple weeks ago. Between the two, they worked three days. Kaysen valued their familiarity with city government. "The demands of the job were more than answering the phone," Kaysen said. "They were not just sitting out there waiting for the phone to ring." One also prepared draft speeches and correspondence, and the second drafted correspondence, but he couldn't say how much time was spent on the phone versus writing. "They would not be paid that if I did not think it was justified," Kaysen said. The former employees, one who had worked in the treasurer's office, the other in the mayor's office, will be called back to fill other shifts, he added. One of the part-timers also worked an hour at a council committee meeting. Councilman Jim Brown said he didn't see an issue. Since the city initiated the contact, it wouldn't be appropriate to cut the wage. These brief shifts are not straining the mayor's budget, he said, adding he would oppose dipping into reserves to pay personnel costs. To see more of Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wyomingnews.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544). [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]