City cutting back on expenses

GLENDALE — City employees are turning off lights, drinking room-temperature fountain water and changing their hours in an effort to save $600,000 this fiscal year.

“If you look at the economy as a whole right now, we all have to do our part to make sure that we are doing everything possible to bring in a balanced budget, [which is] No. 1 for the city of Glendale, and to do what is right for the community, and that includes tightening our belts wherever possible,” Deputy City Manager Yasmin Beers said.

The city has eliminated the use of all personal appliances, such as refrigerators or heaters, at workstations and offices, Beers said. To further save energy costs, office lights were turned off at city facilities and lights were set on timers, so “that things aren’t on overnight unnecessarily,” she said.

The city also moved up night work schedules to day shifts a few months ago for Building Maintenance Department employees because they were using lights during the evening, Beers said.

“We think that there will be a considerable amount of savings of a couple of hundred thousand dollars in terms of energy,” she said.

At least 30 vehicles and other pieces of equipment have been slashed from the city’s fleet.

Officials plan to further eliminate and consolidate the city’s fleet size, as well as reduce fuel consumption, she said.

These cost-cutting measures don’t stop at the doors to City Hall.

Officials are also reviewing idling policies so that an engine is not on when police or fire are on an emergency call, Beers said.

Traveling and training that are not essential or critical will also be frozen, she said.

Fewer employees will be taking vehicles home as well, Beers said.

“We are definitely looking at all of the policies that are in place regarding take-home vehicles and are looking to reduce that wherever possible,” she said.

That means the city will be looking at whether some police officers, such as motorcycle officers, can take their motorcycles home with them, Police Business Administrator Jay Kreitz said.

But Kreitz had his doubts about that idea.