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Greensboro City Councilman Mike Barber doesn’t plan to seek re-election in District 4 this year.

Barber said he would continue to be involved in the city, but his specific plans are unclear. He hasn’t ruled out running for some other office, nor has he admitted he is considering it.

Barber said it was a family decision because he and his wife want to keep their options open for where their daughter attends middle school.

“People hear politicians say, 'It’s a family decision,’ and I always thought, 'Oh, come on.’ But it certainly is,” Barber said. “The last 10 years the kids had to make certain sacrifices for their dad. I appreciate their sacrifice.”

Barber was a Guilford County commissioner from 2000 to 2004 , then he narrowly lost his seat. The next year he was elected to the council in District 4. There has been talk Barber wanted to run for mayor. But he’s not saying.

Meanwhile, Joel Landau and Teresa Jobe, who are members of city committees, have said they plan to run for his seat.

Potential candidates can start filing July 6. The primary is Oct. 6, and the general election is Nov. 3.

Are city layoffs looming?

The persistent news of layoffs — from private businesses and government-funded organizations like Guilford County and UNCG — might have some city workers watching their backs.

Scoop caught up with interim City Manager Bob Morgan to see where things stand for the city of Greensboro in this ongoing economic crisis.

Despite the downturn in permit fees and sales tax revenue, Morgan says the city is on track to have a balanced budget through the end of the fiscal year in June. The city has about 140 open positions right now, which has helped cover the shortfalls.

That means, pending any other dire financial news or changes made by the City Council, Morgan isn’t planning any layoffs in the next few months.

All bets are off for next fiscal year, which begins July 1. City department heads have been working for weeks to provide options for council members to help balance next year’s budget, which is about $11 million short.

Morgan will meet with the council April 14 to go over staff ideas. Until then, he’ll be mum about what lies ahead.

Cue 'Yackety Sax’

That’s the nutty little single by Boots Randolph from 1963 that most know as “The Benny Hill Show” theme song.

It’s what’s played when general confusion and oddball chases ensue, and one that we think fits the first attempt at a county manager selection process.

The county has six manager applicants for its top post. They videotaped each one’s response to the same eight questions, and paired those with resumes that correspond with the candidates.

Or so they thought.

“It was very embarrassing and a complete fiasco,” Commissioner Paul Gibson said of how the county staff mis-matched the videos with the resumes.

On Thursday, commissioners heard one video, decided they didn’t like the candidate, and moved on to the second candidate. They saw the full video for No. 2, and on the third managerial candidate some commissioners recognized the person from the video.

And the resume they had in hand didn’t match.

“It was just a rather confusing situation,” Commissioner Kay Cashion said.

So, they stopped. Commissioners were going to choose three candidates, but they couldn’t see all the videos. The resumes got mixed up by the county’s human resources staff.

Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston called late Friday to say human resources Director Sharisse Fuller took the blame.

Now, the commissioners will have a do-over at 3 p.m. Thursday to see the videos.

And a newspaper article was handed out in the meeting for a candidate from Does that mean he does have a use for the press?

“When you print something out there, you have to see if it is true or not,” Alston said, “and most of the time it’s not as true as it seems.”

Staff writers Amanda Lehmert and Gerald Witt contributed.