NOREEN: Meet the new Untouchables
EDITOR'S NOTE: Barry has updated the original version of his column to reflect City Council developments later in the day Tuesday.
Colorado Springs police and firemen, don’t tell us you’re feeling our pain, because you haven’t, not yet.
By Tuesday afternoon, the City Council moved toward consenus on spreading the fiscal pain through the city workforce by making furlough days out of vacation days. It could be four days, it could by five. How this works in the public safety arena, where someone must be on duty 7/365, we don’t know.
On Monday the budget was balanced on the backs of one-third of the city employees, and the leaders of the police association and firefighters’ union danced in the streets over that. It’s not just about the money, either. It’s about public safety workers being raised up, being made special, being made to feel they are a cut above everyone else.
On Monday the City Council brought new meaning to the term “untouchables.” Tuesday was a new day. We worry about the emergence of a new Spartan warrior class, a group immune from the economic realities facing citizens.
In arguing for some kind of furlough or pay cut, Councilman Tom Gallagher said Monday: “A city employee is not entitled to a better standard of living than the public they serve.”
That seems reasonable. For daring to suggest public safety workers, who make up two-thirds of the city’s workforce, should share some of the pain in the city’s $25 million budget-balancing act, Gallagher has been castigated.
The Untouchables were angry.
“I saw a face of the city employee I never thought I would see, and I’m ashamed,” Gallagher said. “They turned vicious on this community.”
Councilwoman Jan Martin dismissed Gallagher’s remarks, saying city employees acted with universal grace and goodwill. But Gallagher, as well as a handful of Gazette employees, can attest to something far different in recent days.
If there are police and firemen who are not joyful at what happened to other city workers, they should make themselves heard. It’s possible the police association and the firefighters union are not speaking for all uniformed officers.
On Monday the City Council told taxpayers that public safety personnel are untouchable. A couple of members, Scott Hente and Bernie Herpin, made it clear they’d never support a furlough or a pay cut for any public safety worker. By Tuesday, the message softened.
With a straight face, the council made a plea for more citizen volunteers to help keep parks facilities and community centers open. The city has done this before, but given the community’s strong record of volunteering, more may be done. As hard as times are, city officials say volunteerism remains strong.
Too bad the volunteer coordinator for the Department of Parks and Outdoor Recreation has been trimmed so it won’t be a full-time position next year.
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Did the city use scare tactics for the election? See my blog at
