Cleghorn said unsuccessful recruitment efforts are causing issues for city departments

“I can’t give you a specific reason,” Cleghorn said, explaining he believes there are multiple reasons workers are less inclined to work for any governmental entity, not just municipalities.

While the problem became more acute in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, many local governmental entities already were having problems finding enough workers to fill critical positions. COVID-19 didn’t help.

Cleghorn said in Lawton, city administrators began taking steps in early 2020 to lessen expenditures until they could determine the exact effect the pandemic would have on the economy and revenues. He implemented a hiring freeze, meaning empty positions were’t filled unless they had to be. When revenues turned out better than expected, departments were allowed to hire again.

But, when they began advertising positions, there weren’t any applicants.

Not for any department.

A variety of city offices continue to have vacancies, from the workers who repair streets and water/sewer lines, to engineers and planners who design city projects, to the police, fire and emergency communications personnel who handle emergencies.

The problem can be severe to an organization built almost exclusively around serving the public: if there aren’t enough workers, services suffer. Cleghorn estimated 12 percent of his budgeted workforce is vacant. But, a lack of employees doesn’t mean services stop, he said, explaining it means his employees are working harder and longer to make up for those who are missing.

“There are issues from this,” he said.

Overtime is one, but that presents an issue beyond cost. An employee getting overtime is working more and extended periods of extra hours could lead to burnout.

“We don’t want those who are working to leave,” he said, of what could be the ultimate result of too much work and not enough time off. “People leave. They’re tired.”

Fewer workers mean services may not be offered in a timely fashion. For example, employees in the Parks and Recreation Department oversee 697 acres in about 80 parks that are mowed 12-15 times a year. Or, they should be, Cleghorn said, explaining that department is down a significant number of employees. It’s one of the reasons city administrators and the City Council are weighing the idea of trimming the number of parks, to better focus resources.

Cleghorn said his options for resolving the issue are limited. He told the City Council last week there are only two real answers for manning city departments: fewer people being paid more, or more people being paid less.

“We want to take care of the people who take care of our citizens,” Cleghorn said, of current employees who are doing more with less. “I appreciate the staff, which is hard working and trying to get it done.”

Cleghorn said he appreciates the council’s proposal to increase pay for city employees, but there is a process involved with that.

“We’ve discussed it among the senior staff,” Cleghorn told the council.

Cleghorn said the process would mean a comprehensive analysis of general employee jobs and wages, comparing them to other cities and entities to see what can be done. Raising wages can’t be done in a vacuum: increased pay for new hires would mean more pay for those already here. And, that means higher operational costs funded by citizens.

While private employers are exploring ways to attract workers, those solutions may not work for governmental offices, Cleghorn said. For example, many of the nation’s young workers say they want to continue working remotely. While that may work for divisions associated with information technology, it won’t work for service-heavy areas such as water and sewer maintenance, and specialty jobs such as police and fire.

As for citizens, Cleghorn is asking for their patience.

“We want to provide the best service we can,” he said, asking residents to look at the jobs featured on the City of Lawton’s website to see what’s available, then tell everybody they know. “We need the help.”