City of Augusta HR employees out of job in 60 days - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

Employees with the city of Augusta's Human Resources department are on notice.

They may lose their jobs in 60 days.

The city will send a letter later this week to all HR employees, notifying them of the changes soon to be made as the troubled department is set for a facelift.

"There's been some problems over the past few years," says Interim HR Director Mike Blanchard. "General decline in customer service, responsiveness, and things like that."

Last summer, commissioners voted against privatizing the department.

Now, all employees will have to re-apply for their jobs if they wish to stay.

City Administrator Fred Russell says there are no guarantees the employees will be re-hired.

"Obviously, those people that are there will be considered," Russell says. "But you've got to be able to do the job and do it well."

Blanchard says employees who are re-hired could see their salaries increase or decrease because many positions in the department are changing.

"We're basically changing the structure of the department somewhat, providing clearer lines of authority," Blanchard says. "We are changing job descriptions as well to make sure that we have responsibilities that are equal with the salaries we're going to be offering."

He says this creates the fresh start Human Resources needs to build the kind of department the city wants to see.

"We want to have an HR department that would be the envy of all cities our size," Blanchard says.

Both Blanchard and Russell agree this is the right move for the city and Human Resources.

"At this point, we need to make it right," says Russell. "We're going to take the steps necessary to do that."

There are currently seven full-time employees with Human Resources.

Blanchard says after the restructure, the department will have 15 full-time employees.