The funding request, totaling $185,969, sparked
criticism from Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz for excluding other
departments which faced cuts as other Board members and Mayor Joseph
Curtatone defended the move.

Curtatone faced heavy criticism
from when two recreational department positions were cut from the
Fiscal Year 2010 budget, prompting a protest march to City Hall and
both Gewirtz and Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane to vote against the budget.

Both
Curtatone and DPW Commissioner Stan Koty said keeping the four
positions would be necessary to maintain the department's level of
service.

"It's not about the people in these positions, it's
about the services," Curtatone said . "We're going to continue to
streamline and become more efficient."

"You would be costing people money if you did not bring them back in the long run," Koty added.

Gewirtz
challenged the administration's reasoning behind the restoration,
noting much of the justification for layoffs in the rec and library
departments revolved around providing high service with fewer
employees.

"I find it interesting that in these other
departments we've been talking about, the library and recreation
departments, we don't need more positions to maintain a high level of
service," Gewirtz said. "It just seems like a non-consistent argument."

"We're putting $185,000 back into a department when we're not sure it's actually needed," she added.

"Every department has a different employment structure," Curtatone responded. "I think we are taking the most prudent approach."

Alderman-at-Large Bill White stressed that it wouldn't be possible to leverage one department against another.

"I don't want to make a vote tonight that will result in laying people off."