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Orange City Council members are grappling with the consequence of slashing janitorial services at City Hall after city staff said they’re having to deal with vermin and unsanitary work spaces.
Public Works Director Christopher Cash pointed out the myriad places where city staff have seen an uptick in vermin, specifically pointing to city hall and the restrooms.
“We’ve also had some ongoing issues, frankly with vermin in our facilities. Particularly here at city hall where we’ve had an ongoing issue with that. Frankly, some of those things were exacerbated with the lack of cleaning,” Cash said at the Sept. 24 meeting.
It comes as city officials confront a rocky budget, instituting a wave of budget cuts and bumping up revenue streams to shrink what was once an estimated $19 million deficit to $6.7 million. It’s estimated that gap could grow to $26 million by the end of the decade.
City voters will also decide on a 0.5% sales tax increase to help shrink the deficits, with city staff estimating Orange’s reserve fund could run out in two years if current spending and revenue is maintained.
Meanwhile, city staff asked council members to reinstate the janitorial services spending at the library and city hall because of the worsening work conditions.
Council members denied the request on a 5-2 vote, with Councilmembers Jon Dumitru and Denis Bilodeau dissenting at the Sept. 24 meeting.
Elected officials instead asked staff to bring back specifics like what services they’re paying for and to negotiate with the janitorial company where they will discuss it at tonight’s city council meeting.
“I think we’re all kind of torn of wanting things to be sanitary, nice for our staff and also understanding what our deficit is,” said Councilwoman Arianna Barrios. She pushed for negotiations to be done with the janitorial company.
According to staff, the vermin issue affects not only staff workspaces but public areas too, like the city libraries, the civic center – along with police and fire headquarters.
The janitorial spending is estimated to cost $190,000, according to a staff report. Earlier this year, the council slashed the services in half to its most basic package.
Reggie Mundakis, an Orange resident, spoke at the meeting in favor of reinstating the janitorial services albeit the budget crisis because it was “the right thing to do.”
“I’m just really struggling with the idea that we’re discussing what’s considered to be basic first world sanitation standards and that there’s a question that anyone in Orange County would be denied the most basic of first world sanitation standards,” Mundakis said.
Barrios, who said she lives and works a few blocks away from city hall, agreed the vermin was an issue.
“I’m underscoring the dilemma that we’re in. It is a difficult one and it doesn’t mean we don’t care and it doesn’t mean we don’t think our employees are great. But we think our residents are great too and we’re asking them to take cuts left and right too,” Barrios said.
Mayor Dan Slater echoed similar thoughts.
“We’ve all needed to cut and make sacrifices and it seems like we keep clawing back at some of the cuts we’ve made,” Slater said.
One of the cuts most recently reversed is the crossing guard program.
After parents and educators asked the council to reinstate the program citing safety concerns, the city council voted to fund the program at the Sept. 24 meeting.
[Read: Orange Reinstates Crossing Guard Program After Budget Cuts]
The funds for the program, which has been outsourced to a private crossing guard company, came from the general fund, a traffic safety fund and $100,000 in contributions from Orange County Supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Don Wagner.
[Read: OC Supervisors Help Fund Crossing Guards in Orange Amid City Budget Cuts]
Councilwoman Kathy Tavoularis asked where the funding for the janitorial services would come from. According to City Manager Tom Kisela, the funds would come from salary savings from employees leaving.
Similarly, part of the crossing guard program used funds from delaying cost of living adjustments given to city employees.
Bilodeau pointed out the deficit they are still in.
“We still have a $6.7 million dollar deficit so these funds will have to come out of reserves. At the end of the day, we have to prioritize our spending. This is probably down lower on the list than other things.”
Gigi Gradillas is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at gigi.gradillas@gmail.com or on Twitter @gigigradillas.
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