58 Tuscaloosa city employees out for COVID-19 reasons
TUSCALOOSA, AL (WBMA) Fifty-eight city of Tuscaloosa employees are off work due to COVID-19 reasons, according to Mayor Walt Maddox.
Maddox says the employees either tested positive for COVID-19 or were exposed to someone with the virus. As a result, they are now in quarantine.
Majority of the employees out are from the public safety departments. Twenty-six Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue workers are out followed by 16 from the police department.
The next highest is from ISP, which is the environmental services positions. There are 13 employees out in that department. Maddox says having ISP workers out is a major concern due to recent back ups in trash pickup.
"We're going to have to exercise some patience in non-public safety things. We just don't have the manpower and bandwidth to be able to deliver at the same level, and you can't create new employees overnight, but there's not an organization in America that's not dealing with this issue," Maddox says.
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To help the environmental services issue, the city lifted its hiring freeze that began in April. The city will only be hiring to fill environmental positions, as they are also facing difficulties with the year's budget.
