To be honest, I think we are a little low in the way we pay employees now. I do feel strongly about it. I think we went through so much pain and suffering to get things to this point, and I thought the two percent was included in that plan.

I wish we had the money to do this. I think we all do.

It seems that every time we get to an impasse, we (council members) are asked to yet again compromise more, and give more. And now, yet again, there is another block being put in place and I'm having a hard time with that, personally.

We look forward to them moving here and we look forward to their employees being a vital part of the putnam county community.

We have provided competitive salaries, affordable wages and good pensions to our employees and remain committed to do that.

AH&LA firmly believes that new labor agreements can be reached to continue to provide hotel employees with the job security and benefits they need to maintain a good quality of life and also allows hotels to be competitive and deliver quality service at a reasonable price to our guests. But no matter what, hotels will remain open and will do everything they can to make sure all events are well executed and that there is little or no impact on any guest's stay.