Seven months after Huntington Bank merged with Sky Bank, downsizing is continuing.

Huntington laid off ’a handful’ of people in a consolidation of the western Pennsylvania branch with the Pittsburgh branch, according to spokeswoman Jeri Greer.

She said that is the total number of positions cut since Huntington assumed operations in September.

One position eliminated was that of Steve Sant, president of the New Castle office downtown, whose last day in his job was Friday.

’We appreciate all of the contributions (Sant) made in integrating Huntington with Sky,’ Greer said, adding, ’He has been a great member of the team.’

As part of the consolidation, Sant’s longtime secretary and a few others also were laid off that day, because their positions were eliminated.

Greer explained it did not make sense to the bank to have five supervisory regions, and they were reduced to three. Two regional presidents’ posts were eliminated, including Sant’s, she said.

Originally, the bank anticipated eliminating 20 positions, Greer added, ’but we kept them.’

She explained bank managers across the board have been asked to review staff levels and adjust them to mirror the business demands and any declines in business.

Greer would not give a specific number of jobs that have been lost as a result.

When Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, took over Sky Bank Financial Group Inc. in September, about 142 Sky support employees lost their jobs.

At that time, the bank retained more than 100 other Sky workers, including its local management team.

City tax records from the fourth quarter of 2007, which were filed in February, show Huntington had employed 304 people in Lawrence County, according to city business administrator Tammi Gibson.

Numbers for the first quarter of this year will not be available until records are filed next month, she said.

At the time of the merger, Sky Bank had employed about 375 workers, according to previous tax records.