ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Orange Beach employees filled the seats and lined the walls of the council chambers Thursday night, all waiting to hear their fate.

A special called meeting this week authorized the mayor to execute a mass reduction in workforce — the largest bulk firing in the history of the city.

Despite a nay vote from Councilman Jeff Silvers, the council voted to fire 23 employees and eliminate 15 vacant positions.

“This is not a fun thing to do, but we want to get our budget balanced and we want to have a surplus,” Mayor Tony Kennon said. “If we don’t do that it will be one cut, one issue, one problem after the other. I’m ready to deal with this today and move on.”

The decision was made to clean up the mess left behind the previous administration that created a $3 million shortfall in the budget.

Effective Friday, employees were alerted and removed from the payroll.

As severance, each employee — both hourly and salary — will be paid for seven days, remaining vacation time and two additional holiday pay days. Medical insurance benefits will last through the end of the year.

Kennon is also working with the budget to find money to pay for any accumulated sick leave those employees may have.

Before this week’s cuts the city employed 275 people resulting in a $14 million payroll. To pay October’s paychecks, the city borrowed $400,000 from the city’s sewer fund.

City finance director Clara Myers said they have not determined how much money would be saved, rather it was a “moving target” right now.

The city currently owns a 3-par golf course. In September, City Administrator Ken Grimes said they would consider selling nonprofitable property before reducing personnel.

However, Kennon said Thursday due to the lack of market and future hopes of a profiting business, the city would not consider selling the golf course.

“We hope that eliminating the 38 positions and the reclassifications will cover the $3 million shortfall,” Kennon said. “Our greatest concern is we have no idea what to project for ‘09.”

In addition to eliminating personnel, the city has also restructured each department to improve efficiency. Some departments have been eliminated, while others have been liquidated.

“We are now at an efficient number of employees being able to provide 98 percent of the current services we provide,” Kennon said. “There will be no reduction in services across the board.”

While most employees of the newly structured city will keep their jobs, some will be starting the new year with a reduction in pay.

“We tried to reclassify what was appropriate for the job and what was competitive to the market,” Kennon said.

Sales tax was noted as the biggest factor in the shortfall. The 2008 budget projected $8.75 million in sales tax and Grimes said they fell well below $7 million.

“We just spent too much money,” Kennon said of the current situation. “We didn’t prepare for a rainy day like we should have.”

Editor's note: The following information was obtained after The Islander went to press.

The following are the recommendations with the collaboration of city finance director Clara Myers, on the best way to achieve goals which was presented and discussed by the full City Council Nov. 13. The jobs cut from the city of Orange Beach include:

Engineering Department: Building Inspector (1); CDD director; receptionist/clerk (2); office manager.

Communications: Dispatcher (3).

Street Department: Office manager.

Parks & Recreation: Golf superintendent; recreation facility maintenance (6); recreation facility maintenance/golf (2); fitness center attendant (2); rec center attendant (1); teen program coordinator; equipment operator II (1).