Daily Archives: March 11, 2009

BREAKING: MASSIVE Reductions at Vermont’s AHS

I just received a copy of this e-mail.  I’ve blocked out the FROM and CC fields because I’m not sure how public this is supposed to be (even though I’m not sure how you can send something to the entire AHS staff without expecting it to be public)

 
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:25 AM 
To: AHS - DOC - All DOC Staff 
Cc: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 
Subject: 600 Position Reductions

As Secretary Hofmann mentioned in his email (which
I have added below), at  some point today, the 
Administration will release the specific 
information about the positions that will be 
proposed for elimination across State Government in 
order to achieve $17,000,000 in labor cost savings 
for State Fiscal Year 2010. Secretary Hofmann's 
email contains the details on why this is 
necessary, so I will not repeat that information 
here.

Therefore, the DOC proposes the Northeast Regional 
Correctional Facility in St Johnsbury because of 
it‚s proximity to another male prison facility 
(less than 50 miles), it's co-location with an 
existing work camp and because it is the right size 
to address the issue at hand.  While the closing of 
this facility is not desirable, it is necessary to 
address the budget deficit and would mean the 
elimination of almost all of the positions at the 
NERCF site. These positions are in addition to the 
previous 9 that we announced late last week which 
were required to meet our SFY 2010 budget.

I appreciate the difficulty of these reductions and 
sincerely hope that they will ultimately be 
unnecessary. While more conversations between the 

VSEA, the Administration and the Legislature will 
unfold, I want to make sure that you have as much 
information as possible in a timely manner.

As more information becomes available, we will pass 
that along to staff.

That was the preamble to an e-mail from Secretary Hoffman.  I will include his e-mail after the fold.

To All AHS Staff:

While I have asked each Commissioner to be in 
contact with their whole department, I thought it 
was important that all AHS employees hear about 
difficult news that is coming out today directly 
from me.

As you probably know, the State of Vermont is 
facing a budget gap of well over $200 Million for 
the fiscal year (FY 2010) that starts in just over 
3 months.  This only represents the General Fund 
shortfall and this gap is more likely to grow than 
shrink.  The Governor has proposed a budget that 
counts on a huge Federal Stimulus infusion to 
bridge much of the shortfall, but also asks a wide 
variety of non-profit partners, contract and grant 
recipients, medical providers, beneficiaries and 
other Vermonters to share in the cost reductions.  
A reduction in State personnel costs will also be 
necessary.  Several key legislators agree with the 
Administration proposal that $17 million (or about 
8% of the solution) should come from reduced state 
personnel costs.  Given that the union proposal 
does not yet yield the necessary savings and the 
new fiscal year is only a few months away, we are 
at a point where we need to advise the employees in 
positions slated for elimination.

The financial target for the Agency of Human 
Services was $6.8 million (estimated at 285 
positions).  Commissioners, HR/Finance staff and I 
have spent an enormous amount of time wrestling 
with the difficult options to reduce personnel 
costs in our agency of 3500 employees.  Having 
taken some positions off the list, we have 
identified $4.5 million in annual savings through 
the elimination of 195 positions.  While some of 
these positions are vacant, most are not.  We will 
be informing the individuals or work groups 
impacted as soon as possible today.  I expect the 
list of positions to be public by day's end.  I 
will subsequently be reviewing with Commissioners, 
options to reduce the remaining portion of the 
agency target.

For those of you directly affected by these 
changes, I understand that it is extremely 
difficult to receive notice that, through no fault 
of your own, your position is being eliminated in a 
restructuring.  I, and thousands of other 
Vermonters, can personally attest to that.  So far 
AHS has a tremendous track record of helping 
employees land another job within the agency and 
will do our utmost to continue to do so.  This 
naturally becomes more difficult as the number of 
state positions is reduced and the economy causes 
people to stay in (or seek) state positions which 
are relatively more secure than the external 
employment market.  The national recession has 
thrown the continued existence of many previously 
vibrant employers (e.g. auto manufacturers, 
newspapers, airlines, banks, non-profits) into 
grave doubt.  While I can not allay the anxiety 
that you feel, on the whole these reductions are 
less than those that have occurred at many 
businesses.  These reductions are very difficult, 
but the work of State government remains critical 
and will continue into the future, something many 
outside employees can not say with certainty.  I 
understand that this may not be any consolation to 
anyone who loses a job, it may be reassuring to the 
95% of staff not directly impacted.

The Administration has made a counter proposal to 
VSEA yesterday which will become public today.  
Because of this, I remain hopeful that the number 
of eliminated positions can be held steady or 
reduced based on the discussions among the key 
stakeholders.

In the meantime, I encourage staff to support each 
other at this turbulent time and endeavor to remain 
focused on our important work.  Thank you.

Rob Hofmann 

My favorite line is the imaginary group consisting of  “the 95% of staff not directly impacted.”  

We’re all impacted by this.  

“Divisive”

An addendum to yesterday’s piece on same sex marriage: in today’s Rutland Herald, they report that Jim Douglas doesn’t support it:

“I don’t support it. I really believe the civil union law we have now is sufficient,” Douglas said during a meeting of the editorial board Tuesday at the Times-Argus office. “I don’t see the need to have … a divisive debate about this topic.”

Here’s my thought: let’s not have a divisive debate.  Let’s not gay-bait, and let’s repudiate anyone who does.  Let’s not pretend that civil unions are equal to same-sex marriage.  Let’s not, for example, use same sex marriage as a bogeyman in your fundraising letters.  

Let’s not be “divisive” about this.  Let’s just pass it and get it over with.  It’s easy.

‘Cause, really, what’s more “divisive” here?  Passing the legislation or vetoing it so that we have to have this battle over and over again?

Vermont is Winning!

A new study shows that Vermont has a higher percentage of its population, 34%* , asserting that they belong to “no religion”

Follow this link to the charts.

 

*CORRECTION: The 21% figure posted earlier was the change, not the absolute fraction. Thanks to worriedinvt for pointing that out.

Breaking: Burlington Recount Over

WPTZ just reported that after a review of the ballots of four wards confirmed the election night results, Kurt Wright pulled the plug on his recount request and conceded to reelected Mayor Bob Kiss.

It was just yesterday that Doug Hoffer, commenting on an earlier recount thread, made this prediction:

I predict Kurt will do as Tim Ashe’s opponent did and agree to stop it midway through;

.

And GMD commenter farjas responded:

I’ll match your prediction with one nearly as prophetic. Kurt Wright will not abandon this effort halfway through, no matter how “torturous” the recount process (see Minnesota: Coleman for proof).

Good call, Doug.

We’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow for more information, but those are the basics.

UPDATE: Haik has the same news over at Burlington Pol, but the only additional detail he has is a more specific lineup of the wards that completed before the end.

First VT Stimulus Project Benefits Company From…Maine.

(This is a really good catch.  Thanks for posting it. – promoted by JulieWaters)

http://www.wcax.com/Global/sto…

Yesterday, the guv dropped the shovel on Vermont’s first federal stimulus construction project, a bridge repair in Richmond.  The WCAX piece linked above left out that the general contractor, T. Buck Construction, is headquartered in Auburn, Maine.

Call me a protectionist, but is anyone else disappointed our first stimulus job didn’t go to a Vermont company?  And, is anyone else equally disappointed that WCAX neglected to mention anything about WHO will be doing the work?  

Hopefully, T. Buck will at least put some Vermonters to work instead of importing labor.

Israel & the Palestinians

Looking back, I can’t say that I’m proud about the way I treated my younger brother.  The number of times I made him get me something from the kitchen, forced him to get up off the couch to turn the television channel (this was pre-remote control), or the times I would beat on him as he beat me at basketball (he was the better athlete).  I was older, and stronger.  

I distinctly remember the time I came home from college during break, and gave him a shove because he wasn’t doing something I wanted.  His 6 foot frame gave my 5 foot 10 frame a shove back.  

I was lucky that we were both so surprised by his reaction and strength that it didn’t go any further.  I had earned a reprieve and managed to bluster, “So, watch it,”

However, it didn’t take college level coursework for me to figure out that things had changed.  With one part maturity, and one part self-interest, it clicked that things were not as they always had been.  It was time for our relationship to evolve.

Looking at the birthrates and demographics in the Middle East, the Israelis are on the wrong side of some pretty major trend lines.  They will simply overwhelm the Jewish population.  The Palestinians won’t be willing to do the chores forever, and the day is coming when they’ll be able to shove back.  

It is time for those of European decent living in that part of the world to understand that if they want to remain there, long term, it is time to start working on building a new paradigm.  It is in their self-interest to begin now – before wounds and grievances are even deeper, and irreparable damage is done — to work to develop a new relationship, built on compromise, partnership, and mutual benefit.