In Concordia, City Manager Amy Lange has gotten a lot of mileage out of the “Kansas strong, Kansas nice” mindset. The north-central Kansas city is down six workers. While that may not seem like a lot, it accounts for about 10% of the city government’s workforce. Residents might not notice the impact unless they’re paying attention. Potholes don’t get fixed quite as quickly, and it might take a bit longer for questions about taxes to be answered. But Lange said this obscures the real impact, noting her staff is having to cover for vacant positions — even though they are already down to the bare minimum of workers that are needed to perform the city’s functions. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated hiring issues that already existed pushing older employees into retirement. The competitive labor market has made it hard to replace them.
Source: Salina Journal
