Do two rumors make one fact? In Plainfield, maybe.

The Magic 8-ball knows, but won't tell....

 
Spottings of Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs have been rare since her defeat in the June primary election, but rumors of what she's up to abound.

One in particular is that Her Honor is supposedly putting together a 'layoff plan'.

To anyone familiar with the workings of municipal government, this must sound odd because layoff plans are intimately tied up with the annual budget process.

If the Administration projects economic difficulties for the upcoming year -- a shortfall in tax receipts, an increase in fixed costs that would bump the state's cap on annual tax increases -- one of its options is to propose a layoff plan.

But the rules regarding such are quite strict. Such a plan would have to be submitted to the State and approved before it could be announced, then a timetable would have to be followed giving employees adequate notice and opportunity to 'bump' those with less seniority, and then finally a layoff would ensue after a specified period of time.

The point being that there are checks and balances all along the way, and that layoff plans are not based on whim or spur-of-the-moment decisions. Nor, supposedly, to settle grudges with particular employees.

Yet that is the brunt of the rumor: that Her Honor is planning to layoff employees who were not sufficiently (and demonstrably) supportive of her re-election campaign.

Good luck with that, I thought; that's an idea that will go nowhere since the 2013 budget has already been adopted, without any layoff plan.

Except that then I became aware of another rumor that could shed some light on the 'layoff' matter.

Seems a former Recreation Division employee was said to be campaigning on behalf of Robinson-Briggs and is said to have told Recreation part-timers and seasonal help reluctant to support Robinson-Briggs that they would be let go if Robinson-Briggs won and the former employee was once again in the saddle.

The kicker is supposed to be that one of those approached took the time to record the conversation. If true, that would certainly make for interesting listening.

And it might just confirm the 'layoff' rumor as seasonal and part-time employees don't have any standing in what the State considers a true layoff plan.

So, could two rumors equal one fact?

In Plainfield, maybe.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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