Commission Meeting Draft Minutes

9. Consideration of Compensation Study Recommendations (Maureen Gochee)

Human Resource Director Maureen Gochee presented the background summary for this agenda item (on file in the Clerk’s Office).  It included five options recommended by staff for the Commissioners to vote on.

Town Manager Kris Kollgaard noted that staff included an option to increase the minimum pay for Town employees to $15.00 since it was brought up by a Commissioner at a previous meeting.

Mayor Richards asked if there were any questions or comments from the Commissioners regarding this item.

Commissioner Kussard stated that in order to retain current employees or recruit new employees, they need to be paid a competitive wage. She stated she agrees with the first two options presented by staff which included paying employees a minimum salary of $15.00 per hour and the class date parity for the police. She noted that 21 of the Town’s employees are paid under $15.00 an hour. Commissioner Kussard agreed that if a current employee’s salary is higher than the recommended range maximum, it should be capped.

Commissioner Vincent stated he does not understand who would be getting what with the options provided in the compensation study.

Ms. Kollgaard noted that the compensation study listed the employees by name and their current salary and included the minimum and maximum range per position. She asked if the Commissioner wanted it broken down more.

Commissioner Holden stated he feels the minimum pay should be $15.00 an hour; it works out to $600 a week at 40 hours a week, which is the amount government was giving the unemployed.

Mayor Richards pointed out that the Town pays $1,000,000 each year for health insurance and another $300,000 for participation in other plans for employees. He stated these benefits provided by the Town average out to about another $5.00 an hour. He stated he is not totally comfortable with offering a minimum pay of $15.00 an hour when you factor that in. He stated he is in favor of bringing the employees up to the minimum in the study, excluding the department heads, and including class date parity for the police.

Ms. Kollgaard stated she spoke with the department heads and they are fine with their salaries, although she would like to see the general employees brought up to the minimum in the study. She stated that she is in favor of bringing up the minimum pay to $15.00 an hour.

Commissioner Vincent agreed that benefits add up. He stated it was brought to his attention that some Town positions were not included in the study.

Ms. Gochee replied that the consultant picked certain positions and surveyed for those positions. She stated the chances of getting information back on surveying for every position would be slim to none.

Commissioner Kussard noted that the poverty level for a family of three is $21,720; for a family of four, the poverty level is $26,200. She reiterated that the Commission should consider bringing those 21 employees up to $15.00 an hour.

These options were discussed at length.

Commissioner Vincent stated that he did not have the documentation to review to be able to rate employees.

Mayor Richards pointed out that the Commissioners role was to set policy and procedure; not to rate employees. He stated that as long as the Town is doing well, services are being provided, everything is looking good and being taken care of, and there are no complaints, then the outcome is good. He stated it is not up to the Commission to check the performance of Town employees against their managers on a regular basis; that is considered micro-managing.

Mayor Richards asked the Commissioners if this could be moved along.

Commissioner Kussard made a motion to approve the Options 2 and 3; the Class Date Parity for the Police and the Tier 2 option for general employees. Commissioner/Mayor Richards seconded the motion. The motion failed by a vote of 2 to 3 (Hannan/Holden/Vincent).

Commissioner Hannan made a motion to approve Options 1, 2 & 3. Commissioner Holden seconded the motion. The motion failed by a vote of 2 to 3 (Kussard/Vincent/Richards).

Commissioner Kussard made a motion to approve Options 1 and 2. Commissioner Holden seconded the motion. The motion failed by a vote of 2 to 3 (Hannan/Vincent/Richards).

Ms. Kollgaard asked the Commission if they wanted to go ahead and approve the Class Date Parity for the police as discussed at the Closed Executive Session earlier this same date.

Mayor Richards replied that this will be part of the negotiations and does not have to be voted on tonight.

After further discussion, Mayor Richards requested that the Town Manager and Human Resource Director provide a spreadsheet showing what salary adjustments staff is recommending for specific employees in relation to the ranges proposed by the compensation study. He stated he would like to see justification noted for any adjustments that seem over the top. This item will then be brought back for consideration at the next Commission meeting.