So, the Lansing City Council Intergovernmental Relations Committee is considering an ordinance that would eliminate a part of the city job application that asks if you�re a felon.

What for? The city is under a hiring freeze and has been since � at least � November, and probably will be for the next fiscal year.

From the administration�s budget message to Council, submitted on March 22:

�Additional savings will be achieved by continuing the cost reduction measures currently in place, including a hiring freeze, reduction of capital and non-personnel expenses, and other measures enacted as part of the deficit elimination plan adopted for the current fiscal year.�

Now, don�t get me wrong, it�s not like the city�s never going to hire anyone ever again, though it may be a few years. So, what, they want to be an even more equal equal opportunity employer someday when all this hiring/furlough business is behind them?

I just question the point of taking up this issue at a time when the Council has less than four days and counting to pass the city�s budget. It�s kind of a mockery of the city�s dire budget situation. (Another mockery: in the City Hall lobby they�ve got this whole terminal set up where you can allegedly apply for city of Lansing jobs � they got two computers just sitting there, unused.)

And the Intergovernmental Relations Committee? It may be the least important Council committee: Last year, when First Ward Councilman Eric Hewitt helmed it, it met once. And this is its first meeting this year after At-Large Councilwoman Kathie Dunbar took it over.