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Marcques Derby : Furloughs Possible

Marcques Derby says he is running for the three open seats on the Burlington City Council to bring a new perspective to the panel.

The perspective he is talking about is youth, as he is 27-years-old, willing to serve the community, and help with the generational hand-off.

Derby says the city budget is the biggest challenge facing the city.

He says one way the city could save money is to convince union employees to start paying a portion of their health insurance premium.

Derby says another option would be to occasionally furlough city workers, as opposed to layoffs.

"If we shut down city hall (for) 1-2 days per month, turn the lights off, turn everything off, nobody works, nobody does anything," says Derby, "whatever day we identify as a low traffic day, shut it down."

Derby says he would not support cuts to the public library, the police department or the fire department.

He also questions the potential management contract of Memorial Auditorium with VenuWorks (Ames, IA) over a lack of information. 

Derby says he would support a strengthening of the nuisance department to prevent portions of the city from falling apart.

Jason Parrott is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.