On a 4-3 vote Monday, City Council agreed that Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer can keep his three full-time assistants and a part-timer in 2013.
The move came after months of bickering between the mayor and some council members over whether he really needs all the help – a full-timer and a part-timer more than former Mayor Tom McMahon had – when the city cut four full-time and four part-time jobs elsewhere.
The city already adopted a $77 million budget for 2013, but needed to approve the position ordinance so employees can be paid next year.
Two of the cuts are full-timers in the Citizens Service Center, which hopes to need fewer workers when it transfers trash and recycling bills to the Reading Area Water Authority sometime next year.
