The cleanup campaign began two days after thousands of city employees took unpaid furloughs as Dallas sought to close a budget shortfall.
By Devyani Chhetri
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Dallas city employees returned from furlough to an email from City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert promising a pizza party if they clean up their desks.
Tolbert kicked off a monthlong “Clean the Clutter” campaign across all city facilities to create workspaces that are “clean, neat, organized, welcoming and accessible for everyone.”
“The department that is most improved will have a chance to win a Pizza Party with the City Manager!” said Tolbert’s July 13 email to all Dallas employees.
The email arrived on the first workday after thousands of city employees were told to take unpaid leave to close a midyear budget shortfall. City employees are already reporting low morale.
Three days of furloughs will save $5 million, city officials said. First responders and some service workers are not part of the mandate.
“It shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of the city workers to plug this budget gap that they had nothing to do with,” said John Mallon, the vice president of Chapter 9487 of the United Steelworkers, which represents Dallas County and city of Dallas workers.
City officials said they chose July for the drive because the month has fewer meetings and that makes it easier for employees to participate.
The first furlough day was July 10. Recreation centers and some other city facilities will be closed for furloughs Aug. 7. The next citywide closures will be Sept. 4 and Sept. 28.
Officials placed black garbage receptacles all over City Hall, with instructions for what kind of trash could be thrown out – no documents, no wipes, no cubical pieces. Cardboard boxes must be broken down, employees were told.
This article has been updated to add a response from city officials.
Dallas City Hall Reporter
Devyani Chhetri covers Dallas City Hall. Before joining the Dallas Morning News, she covered South Carolina politics and presidential primaries. She went to Boston University for graduate school.
