A majority of South Portland city councilors are expressing support for how City Manager Jim Gailey handled the layoffs last week of five veteran workers.

The five city employees – some just a few years from retirement – were informed Feb. 24 that their jobs were eliminated, effective immediately. After a few minutes to collect belongings, each worker was escorted from the workplace.

“I was made to feel like a criminal,” said 63-year-old David Gaudet, who worked for the Public Works Department for 41 years.

Collectively, the five workers had more than 100 years working for the city.

“I am told this is fairly standard procedure,” said Councilor Maxine Beecher about the termination process, which Gailey handled, along with Assistant City Manager Erik Carson and Human Resources Director John McGough.

“If someone comes in and tells you your job has just been eliminated, I’m not sure how you can lessen that impact,” noted Councilor Tom Coward. “Given the world we live in, you’ve got to balance compassion with practicality.”

The employees who lost their jobs were:

• Deb Smith, operations manager at the Recreation Department, after 28 years;

• Pam St. John, personnel assistant, 28 years;

• Rita Nappi, librarian, 20 years;

• Monica Dubay, library clerk, at least 15 years;

• Gaudet, operations manager at Department of Public Works, 41 years.

Gailey insists the layoffs were driven by finances. But at least two former employees – Smith and St. John – allege that conflicts they had with city leaders led to their terminations.

“Deb is convinced that her job was eliminated not for just financial reasons,” said former City Councilor David Jacobs, who tried to arrange an exit interview with Gailey, on behalf of Smith.

Jacobs said Gailey has refused the interview with the 54-year-old South Portland resident, saying she can submit her thoughts in writing.

Smith is seeking legal advice first but plans to draft a report on incidents she alleges led up to her dismissal, Jacobs said.

Likewise, St. John, 55, said she believes her position as personnel assistant in human resources was targeted, because she filed suit against former City Manager Jeff Jordan and the city in 2000, alleging a hostile work environment. St. John lost the lawsuit but continued in her job.

“I feel this is nothing more than payback. It feels like retaliation,” St. John said.

According to Gailey, he eliminated the five positions to help close a $322,000 budget gap for next fiscal year.

Gailey said that it became clear that layoffs were necessary as he developed the fiscal year 2010 budget. The Council has stated it does not want to see new spending increase by more than 3.5 percent.

“I was faced with approximately $630,000 in revenue reductions and approximately $1 million in expenditure increases,” he said. “The Council’s 3.5 percent guidance provided $549,128 of new money to reduce the gap. I needed to make cuts in many areas to develop the budget to fall within the guidance of the City Council. I considered many options and felt that the direction I ultimately headed was in the best for the city and kept the service to the public at current levels.”

The layoffs followed a buyout program the city offered to full-time employees in February as incentive to retire or resign voluntarily. Six employees took the $7,000 buyout, which is projected to save about $138,000.

“As city manager, my goal is to submit a budget that reduces spending in areas that have the smallest effect on the general public,” Gailey said, when he announced the layoffs.

“Many times, the only way to reduce spending, and meet this goal, unfortunately is through reductions in personnel costs.”

Mayor Tom Blake described the layoffs as “his most difficult challenge as mayor.”

Blake was the only councilor who knew prior to Feb. 24 which positions Gailey planned to cut.

Councilor Jim Soule has criticized Blake and Gailey for failing to disclose to the full council the details of the layoffs until right before they took place. Soule said he heard about the layoffs on his voice mail.

He said the council should have been given the opportunity to explore other options.

“I believe the breadth and knowledge of our existing council could have lent great advice to our manager. We were not given that option,” he said.

Soule also raised questions about stipends handed out to city employees right before a hiring freeze was instituted in January.

Both Human Resources Director John McGough and Dana Anderson, who heads Parks, Public Works, Recreation and Libraries, each were given $4,000 stipends in December. The extra money reflects additional duties they assumed in 2008, with the consolidation of several departments.

In December, Gato was promoted to deputy director of Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Libraries, reporting directly to Anderson. It is a new position in city government. He received a $3.21-per-hour raise, from $25.88 to $29.09 an hour.

“This was on top of two increases this same employee was given since Mr. Gailey was made city manager,” Soule said.

In December, Gato was promoted to deputy director of Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Libraries, reporting directly to Anderson. It is a new position in city government.

Gato previously had been promoted from swimming pool supervisor to an operations manager in the last few years.

Gato, reached by phone, declined to discuss his salary or wage increases. “You can go to Human Resources to get that,” he said.

At press time, McGough had not responded to a reporter’s query on other pay raises Gato may have received recently.

Gato noted he had read Soule’s comments about his wage increases, but added, “I’m not prepared to talk about it.”

The council has not formally addressed the city’s financial troubles, the layoffs or the payouts Soule criticized.

Soule said he wants to discuss the city manager’s performance and actions in executive session on Wednesday, after the regularly scheduled City Council meeting.

The laid-off workers received compensation when they were dismissed from their jobs. They were awarded two weeks’ pay, as well as one week’s pay for every two years worked. The former workers can keep their health insurance until the end of March.

Although many of the councilors expressed confidence in Gailey, there has been an outcry from residents, including many who knew the five workers through the city services they provided.

“For me, the real question is: Did the city manager’s actions model the behaviors, values and ethics that we as residents hold near and dear?” asked Rosemarie DeAngelis, a former city councilor.

“Was the unwillingness to talk to employees about these decisions, to help them in the transition, and to prepare departments for these changes a result of lack of experience and skills?”

“South Portland Rec has enriched our community in countless ways….. I am so incredibly angry about not only the fact that this was done but the way in which it was done,” said Jessica Sobey, commenting on the South Portlander news blog.

“What makes me flabbergasted is we cut the jobs of people who are an integral part of managing this city’s youth and seniors…”

Robyn Thurber said she worked at the South Portland Recreation Department as a camp counselor when she was a teenager.

“Working for the city and under Deb not only provided me with valuable work experience but also … with rich life experiences and confidence when seeking full-time employment positions,” she said. “Deb’s untimely departure is a loss to the community.”

City Councilor Patti Smith – who is a human resources director at Planet Dog in Portland – expressed interest in gathering more information about the layoffs and how they were handled.

“I’ve heard enough from constituents that people want questions answered, and I’m definitely interested in finding out whether we covered all the ground.”

Smith said the city manager made the council aware that the budget was tight and that layoffs were likely. But she noted that handling layoffs and job terminations often requires a lot of preparation.

“I would normally ask myself, if I had to cut jobs, ‘Have I looked at all the avenues?’ I try to put on paper the pros and cons of the actions I’m about to take and a get a couple extra sets of eyes to look at what I’m doing,” she said.

“With something so sensitive as this, you really need to have a plan and to make sure you look at all different directions before going forward.”