Shakeup in Dana Point May Cost 2 Top City Jobs : Reorganization: The Council has ordered that staffing be trimmed because of a budget crunch. Key officials remain mum on the reported terminations.

DANA POINT —  A reorganization at City Hall will likely cost two city officials their jobs, including the first person hired after Dana Point became a city in 1989.

Barbara Healy, the city’s administrative coordinator, and Assistant City Manager John Donlevy Jr. reportedly learned of their pending termination during a staff meeting and in front of their peers last week.

“I was totally shocked,” said Healy. “I had no idea this was coming.”

Although Healey said she learned of her termination during the staff meeting, other city officials declined to discuss how the announcement was handled. City Manager David Elbaum did not return phone calls for comment on Tuesday and left on vacation Wednesday.

Healey, who was the first city employee hired by then-City Manager William O. Talley in March, 1989, and Donlevy will be out of work June 30 if the City Council upholds the administrative decision to let them go.

Council members had directed that the staff be trimmed because of expected budget cuts caused by reduced state revenue for local government. The city anticipates losing $350,000 to $500,000 from its $12-million annual operating budget, said Councilman Mike Eggers.

“Once again the state is trying to balance the budget on our backs,” Eggers said. “But rather than ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away, a City Council like ours decided to look at all expenses, including personnel.”

Eggers added, “Some of these positions were considered nice to have when you have money, but not a necessity when you are cutting back.”

Beside Healy and Donlevy, the city is eliminating two other positions that are vacant from a total staff of 29 employees serving the city of 32,000. The decision to cut back was made during a closed council meeting March 30 and announced to the staff March 31, Eggers said.

Healy was the city staff liaison to the Dana Point Cultural Commission, edited and published the city newsletters, worked on the annual Festival of Whales and negotiated the lease to the City Hall, among other duties.

Those efforts will be continued by other staff members, said Councilwoman Judy Curreri.

“This was really just a matter of looking at whether or not we were challenging all the people in our organization and whether or not they all had full workloads,” Curreri said. “Various staff people had some room to add on some extra duties.”

Curreri said the council attempted to look strictly at the city staff organization and not the people involved.

“We did not look at individuals. This was a reorganization of the structure,” Curreri said. “Of course, this is always very tough because there are human beings attached to these positions.”

The cutbacks have hurt morale at City Hall, Curreri acknowledged.

“Morale has been very shaky for awhile. I think the staff has been very nervous and still are,” she said. “When you look around and see someone getting termination notices, you can’t help but think, ‘What does that mean to me?’ ”

Mayor Karen Lloreda said the city instructed City Manager Elbaum to study other South County cities and then come up with a reorganization plan. Elbaum made the final decisions on what positions would be eliminated, she said.

“The council can only hire or fire the city manager, the city attorney and the city clerk,” Lloreda said. “These did not come by direction of the council.”

Donlevy, who was assistant city manager to Elbaum’s predecessor, Talley, and has also worked for the city for three years, declined to comment, other than to say he “has enjoyed working for the city of Dana Point.”