In a meeting wrought with tension and acrimony, members of the Dowagiac City Council voted in favor of a resolution to contract out the staffing of the city’s wastewater treatment facility, effectively replacing the city employees who currently man the plant.

According to city leaders, the decision followed an email city hall received in November from Infrastructure Alternatives Inc  — a company the city had contracted with in June to provide management and training services to the facility — which informed them that the company would not renew its contract with the city following the end of their six-month agreement. The email stated that IAI employees working at the plant had received push back from the city staff since they began working together.

As a result, City Manager Kevin Anderson recommended to the council that the city hire a contractor to staff the wastewater plant moving forward, with the leaders selecting Grand Rapids’ F&V Operations. The city plans on working out a five-year agreement with the firm, which promised to give the current plant staff an opportunity to join the company when the transition occurs.

The city will also give plant employees a chance to possibly stay on with another department.

In spite of these offers, Monday’s decision was met with much opposition, from not just the four staff members whose jobs are now in jeopardy, but from the labor union representing the water plant employees.

While it was no doubt a tough decision for city leaders to make, we believe their choice will create more problems than it solves in the long run.

For starters, simply laying off the entire staff, without any prior disciplinary actions, sets a poor precedent.

According to a memo provided to the council by Anderson, city leaders were aware of issues with time off and other problems, before and after IAI crews began working at the plant. Certainly there were opportunities for them to take lesser corrective actions before outright eliminating their positions.

An even more alarming precedent is set by this decision, though — the fact that city functions could face outsourcing based on employee performance.

We strongly agree with the idea that city employees should do their jobs to the best of their abilities, and if they choose to do otherwise they should face the consequences. However, simply doing away with  public staff and replacing them with workers from the private sector may be expedient, but it also erodes the sense of ownership citizens have over the public works department.

We understand why the city council took such drastic action, as the security of our drinking water is paramount. But we still feel more time should have been devoted to the problem.

Our hope now is that the new wastewater plant staff live up to the council’s expectations, and provide Dowagiac with the level of service it deserves.

At the end of the contract, though, we hope leaders consider returning staffing back to the public sector.

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of General Manager Ambrosia Neldon and community editors Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.