Peachtree City Manager Bernie McMullen is recommending to the City Council an elimination of 23 positions, all of which are on the city's landscaping and mowing crews.

To take their place McMullen wants the city to outsource all of its right of way mowing and landscaping for a projected savings of $840,000 a year. The proposal will be considered by council at its regular meeting Thursday night.

The employees were notified Friday of the proposal. If approved by the City Council, they would get six weeks severance pay and medical insurance with a COBRA option therafter and access to the city's employee assistance program for three months.

Also, the city will require any contractor assuming the services to consider any of the eliminated city employees for any new jobs created by that contract.

McMullen, in a memo to council, noted that the city has a budget shortfall of $3.3 million projected for FY 2010. This action will reduce that deficit to $2.5 million.

Four of the employees are with the city's leisure services department and the other 19 are with the public works department split between the landscaping crew and right of way mowing crew.

McMullen noted that the city started last year by outsourcing highway right of way mowing and landscaping along with ballfield mowing "at a significant cost savings with little change in service provided."