Notwithstanding the sweet pension packages for certain public employees in Massachusetts, it’s getting scary for a lot of people who get their paychecks from City Hall. For example, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn is basically telling city workers to crank out their resumes. The city is facing a $10 million budget deficit this fiscal year, and Leslie Ogden reports in the Tufts Daily:

In a letter sent to all school and municipal employees on April 13, the mayor stated that there were “no guarantees for job security in the foreseeable future” and encouraged employees to “actively pursue other employment opportunities if they present themselves.”…

“If [you] can secure employment somewhere else,” McGlynn said of city employees, “take advantage of it because it’s all about your family’s security.”

Meanwhile, public health employees in Worcester are worried about their jobs being “privatized.” The Telegram & Gazette‘s Nick Kotsopoulos reports that city manager Michael O’Brien has cut the public health staff from 20 to five and is asking for help from the city’s “eds and meds” sector:

The manager recently announced that the city is partnering with UMass Memorial Health Care Inc. and the University of Massachusetts Medical School to redefine its public health mission. He said he will assemble a task force by May 31, in cooperation with the Board of Health, to research and develop a public health core mission for the city that is based on national best practices and reflects a sustainable financial model.

He said he also expects the task force’s recommendations, which will be due by Sept. 30, will ensure the city’s public health mission complements work already being conducted by local hospitals, physicians, community health providers, colleges, universities and social service agencies.

One of the city’s two remaining public health nurses, Ann Cappabianca, thinks the fix is in for the elimination of a publicly run (and publicly accountable) public health department: