City hall's relationship with neighborhood associations are in for a shake-up thanks to budget cuts that will cost two longtime city employees their jobs.

Deputy Mayor Greg Purcell said Friday that the jobs of two of Mayor Tom Henry's four area advocates will be eliminated effective Jan. 1 as a result of cuts approved earlier this year by City Council.

The city will attempt to find other positions for Northeast Advocate Denise Porter-Ross and Northwest Advocate Zenovia Pearson, he added.

The two remaining advocates, Ken Nicolet and Cherise Dixie, will be given expanded duties under a reorganization that will see Nicolet serve neighborhoods on the city's northwest and southwest sides, with Dixie serving the northeast and southeast.

The decision was no reflection on the job performance of Porter-Ross and Pearson, Purcell added, but recognition that the skills and abilities of Nicolet and Dixie are more compatible with a reorganization intended to change perceptions.

“This isn't the Civil War; it's not a North-South thing,” Purcell said.

“This was a decision made by Council. We would have liked to keep all four.”

Area advocates serve as liaisons between City Hall and neighborhood associations, and Purcell said the administration is working on rearranging the two advocates' priorities to reflect the 50 percent cut in personnel.

But City Council President Tom Smith, R-1st, defended the cuts, saying the four area advocates have been spending less time on neighborhood issues and more time on unrelated activities, such as Sister City programs and the recent faith-based summit.

“This is a shot across the bow, and a chance to reorganize that office,” said Smith, who added that at least two neighborhood officials have told him they believe the remaining two advocates can do the job with no reduction in service.

In a letter to neighborhood association officials Friday, Henry thanked Pearson and Porter-Ross for their years of service and said he plans to meet quarterly with neighborhood area partnerships starting in 2010 to “share ideas, identify common problems and create solutions.”