The Effects Of Elmhurst's Hiring Freeze

ELMHURST, IL — After the pandemic began, the city imposed a hiring freeze because of the expected drop in tax money.

That has had an effect on city departments. As of last week, the city has kept 20 full-time positions vacant. The city now has a full-time employee head count of 237, a city spokeswoman said. That's a decline of 8 percent from a year ago.

The vacancy list includes three police officer and two firefighter positions. Also, a parking enforcement position has gone vacant.

Probably the highest profile vacant position is assistant finance director. Other ones include code enforcement officer, IT project manager and human resources generalist.

In public works, open positions include civil engineer, utility project administrator, arborist, building and utility maintenance workers, and mechanic.

About half the vacant positions are covered by union agreements.

The information on the vacancies was provided in a memo to a city committee this week. The memo did not include how much money is being saved.