A long list of business items are on deck for the Sparks City Council’s 3 p.m. meeting today, which could conclude with a closed door meeting regarding labor issues for city employees.

City officials would not confirm what the meeting could specifically discuss, however city council members recently suggested negotiating 4 percent salary reductions across all city staff in order to compensate for an additional $2.5 million in budget shortfalls.

Speculation that the closed door meeting was to discuss another recent proposal to slice about 15 city jobs could not be confirmed by city spokesman Adam Mayberry.

Mayberry further explained that the city manager has the legal authority to fire any at-will employee without a council vote, eliminating the need for a closed door session to discuss potential firings.

City officials would not release what, specifically, the meeting was concerning.

Other labor issues will appear on the agenda today that are not connected to the Dec. 1 discussion of layoffs. The council will be approving employment contracts for at-will city employees, from executive positions, to management to the deputy chief of police. The resolutions, which are set to expire on Dec. 31, dictate the employment conditions and benefits for those city employees who do not belong to bargaining groups.

With the new terms, some employees will have an added option to voluntarily decrease their own pay as well as take up to two weeks off without pay, without endangering their benefits.

Under consent items, which do not require discussion on the agenda unless flagged by a councilmember, the council will be presented with the option of acquiring three parcels that are planned for future park development in the Foothills at Wingfield Springs development. The parks would be built with funds from area road impact fees and construction would not begin until funds were raised, according to staff reports.

In other business, the meeting will begin with a presentation from the Sparks Heritage Museum on their annual activities and future plans. More than 2,720 visitors came through the museum’s doors this year with 41 percent hailing from Sparks, 44 percent coming from other areas in northern Nevada and 15 percent of visitors coming from other states.