Members of the Laurel City Council and city officials met in a City Council Personnel Committee meeting Friday where officials agreed not to eliminate any jobs currently filled.

“The bottom line is that no one will lose a job,” said Council member Johnny Magee, chairman of the council’s personnel committee. “No one will lose their job and not be able to support their families.”

In April a proposal to eliminate five positions in the City of Laurel caused some heated discussions during a Laurel City Council meeting.

According to the April order proposed for the council, the positions slated for elimination were field inspector, code enforcement officer, business development director, risk manager and grant writer.

Based on the information provided to the council, the positions would make available $207,808.28 to be used for other projects.

Salary and benefits for the field inspector are listed at a total of $28,583.91; code enforcement officer (which is a position created due to the Rental Ordinance) is listed at $28,583.91; while the business development director’s salary and benefits are listed at $38,583.91; the risk manager, $55,113.14 and the grant writer at $36,943.41.

After a lengthy discussion, officials decided to refer the proposed order to the personnel committee.

Council president George Carmichael said Friday that he recommended the elimination of the positions to reduce some of the demands of city government.

However, prior to recommending it, he had talked to each council member and the administration concerning the matter.

“Over a year and a half we have been talking about our need to cut back,” Carmichael said. “With the proposal, nobody would have lost a job. Nobody would have been out of a job.”

Carmichael said the administration had agreed to reassign any individual affected by the proposal.

Councilman Manuel Jones said he believe some action is needed.

“I still think there’s too many people in the inspection department,” Jones said.

“We have been talking about when positions become vacant in City Hall through employees retiring or quitting, they will not be immediately filled,” Mayor Melvin Mack told the group. “We are making efforts to reassign the duties for those positions prior to hiring additional people.”

Mack also told the committee that the administration was submitting an order for Tuesday’s meeting to eliminate the business development director’s position.