Two of the Logansport Municipal Utilities employees who received notices they had been terminated will be going back on the job. Mayor Dave Kitchell announced late yesterday afternoon that the employees who received notices of their termination by Utilities Superintendent Paul Hartman will be eligible for the same severance money other employees will be offered, and they’ll receive health insurance for the time being.
Kitchell says both employees were terminated because they were not senior employees with LMU’s now-closed generating plant which had employed 31 union workers before EPA regulations forced it to shut down at the end of last month.
He says in a press release that after discussing the situation with Utility Service Board President Dan Slusser and Superintendent Paul Hartman, rescinding the firings was the best course of action at this point.” KItchell says he is disappointed in the way it was handled because the Mayor’s Office was not advised that any employees would be leaving LMU’s employ before April 1 and since December, has maintained that his administration wants to keep LMU employees affected by the generating plant closing on the job as long as possible. He says while an estimated eight employees will be absorbed in other positions by LMU, the administration will continue to pursue a new power plant and preserve the LMU workforce, though he says some workers may opt to pursue other endeavors.
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