Some Elmhurst Vacant Positions May Be Gone For Good

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst officials are considering lifting the city's year-long hiring freeze, but some positions may be eliminated or outsourced, according to a city memo.

At its meeting Monday, the City Council is expected to vote on a recommendation to lift the hiring freeze for some positions, but find "alternative service delivery" methods for others.

Members of the City Council's Public Works and Buildings Committee signed a memo recommending the changes. They said the city may have cheaper ways to offer services than with employees who get health and pension benefits.

When the pandemic began last March, the city instituted a hiring freeze. At the time, the city had 11 unfilled full-time and 10 part-time positions. Since then, 13 more full-time positions became vacant.

A few positions, including public works director, police officer and part-time code enforcement officer, were filled.

Of the 24 vacant full-time positions, the committee is proposing lifting the freeze for 18 of them. As for the other vacancies, it is recommending eliminating the second parking officer position, converting a customer service representative position to part time, and converting four others to private service contracts — assistant finance director, GIS specialist, utility capital projects administrator and certified mechanic.

As for refilling many of the vacancies, the city said it had good reasons.

"There are non-financial benefits to hiring these positions as well, including the city having better control over the means and methods of the work being performed," the memo said. "Staff resources can be quickly re-prioritized from routine daily responsibilities, to storm response, for example."

Justifying the end of the freeze, the committee said in its memo that the economic effects of the pandemic were not as bad as predicted. Sales taxes dropped 6 percent in 2020, while car sales were a lot greater than expected, the memo said. Meanwhile, food and beverage taxes fell 14 percent, while hotel taxes plummeted 53 percent.