HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-08-29 MinutesMayor Dan Coody
City Attorney Kit Williams
City Clerk Sondra Smith
City of Fayetteville, Arkansas
Special City Council
Meeting Minutes
August 29, 2006
Special City Council Meeting Minutes
August 29,.2006
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Aldermen
Ward I Position I - Robert Reynolds
Ward 1 Position 2 - Brcnda Thicl
Ward 2 Position I - Kyle B. Cook
Ward 2 Position 2 - Vacant
Ward 3 Position I - Robert K. Rhoads
Ward 3 Position 2 — Robert Ferrell
Ward 4 Position I - Shirley Lucas
Ward 4 Position 2 - Lioneld Jordan
A Special meeting of the Fayetteville City Council will be held on August 29, 2006 at 6:00 PM
in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street,
Fayetteville, Arkansas.
is Call to Order
Roll Call
Pledge of Allegiance
New Business:
Compensation Philosophy Adoption: A resolution to adopt the City's Compensation
Philosophy for City employees.
Michelle Bechhold, Human Resources Director: The Compensation Study Committee met
last night. Carolyn Long, CEO of Management Advisory Group, visited with the Compensation
Study Committee about the draft statement I believe you have an updated statement that was
provided following that meeting. There was one amendment that was made to the Compensation
Philosophy Statement. This is something the City decided to put forth around the first of the
year, after we had some issues with our 2005 Salary Survey. The Compensation Committee has
recently changed chairmen; Alderman Bobby Ferrell is now the chairmen. Carolyn Long with
MAG is here to answer any questions that you may have about the Compensation Philosophy.
Carolyn Long, CEO of Management Advisory Group: Over the last couple of months, we
• have been working with the City on a Compensation Classification Plan. Part of our
Compensation Classification Plan, the point that we are at now, we would like to have guidance
from the Council to sort of have direction through a Compensation Philosophy that guides the
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structure or design of the architecture of the plan. We had asked through a survey for
participation, I was gratified and pleased that we had good participation from the Council
members in an anonymous survey that was sent directly back to my office which was
incorporated into this document. Hopefully for those of you who participated, I hope that you
can see that we were careful to weave it in such a fashion as to try and represent your views and
your thoughts on this.
The first part of the document is a background on the characteristics of City employees that are
desirable and what are the objectives of the sound Compensation Policy. The second section on
page two is a synopsis of the analysis of the survey. We gave assurance to the Council members
who participated, that we would summarize the information in such a way that no one's
individual comments could be identified. We did attempt to do that. It was a great relief when I
got the comments back and found there was a great deal congruity in the direction and the
thoughts of the comments. I told the Compensation Committee that I was very pleased that I
didn't find polarizing views which make it very difficult to reconcile the document. There was a
great deal of solidarity in what the members of the committee thought.
Section B is incorporating the City Council's goals into the Compensation Plan. I would like to
point out that in the 2003-2008 Strategic Plan one of the important points of this plan was a
Classification Compensation Study; you are well on schedule to complete that goal, well within
this time frame. We are going to be asking the Council to consider the policy and hopefully to
adopt it. In terms of some sort of general statement on compensation philosophy you want the
statement to be concrete enough to be meaningful but you also want it to be flexible enough so •
that you are not tying the hands of future boards and decisions they may need to make based on
the economy of the City of Fayetteville as it might change over time. 1 always advise that you
have a Compensation Philosophy that you adopt that as flexible but without putting specific
target's in there that you might have to undo at some future point. You want a document that's
broad and flexible but is meaningful. If this Compensation Philosophy is adopted by the board
then Management Advisory Group would follow with some affecting recommendations on
administrative policy as well as compensation structure and recommendations on design and
process that would then support the broad framework of the Compensation Philosophy.
The Philosophy itself is broad enough to be flexible, but it's specific enough to give guidance. If
that guidance is done and the follow up on that is to have a process, that's an administrative
process as well as compensation, architectural and design that is implementing this philosophy
you will have laid a blueprint and laid the ground work for how compensation would be treated
with employees. It's not saying that you couldn't change your mind at some future point or that
some future Council, working under a different economic reality, might not have flexibility
because that's inherent in what we are recommending. But it would certainly take this from the
philosophical down to the practical and the implementable. You should and would expect to see
some policy recommendations in terms of the administration and implementation of this policy.
Of course that would be subject to change as situations change in the City.
Key benefits are the citizens of Fayetteville would have confidence that their compensation
dollars which are a significant part of the City's operating budget would be directed towards an •
affective City workforce. That is a very important issue because that's a very big part of the
budget process. We would like the City of Fayetteville to become in your market area an
employee of choice, positioning yourselves competitively with other employers. Employees
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• through both the Compensation Philosophy document as well as any effecting policies and
implementing recommendations, the employees themselves would have a better idea of what the
pay philosophy is and how that is played out in their day to day lives. Perspective employees
would also be able to understand and know what the decisions and direction have been for the
Council for the compensation package for the City employees. Finally, we are recommending
that you set the pay line at the market average for the peers and the competitors. You have given
us direction on peers and competitors and we are going to have an additional discussion with the
Compensation Committee on the results of the market survey. 1 would say that what we have so
far in respect to the results, the City's position is good, it's competitive and I think the over all
responses that we have received have been very encouraging, details will be provided at a later
date. 1 think the participants that elected to participate in the process for you, we are duly
grateful for there participation, will set a very good and very competitive pay line for the City.
At this point it has all worked out very well. Any questions?
Alderman Thiel: I realize that you want to keep the philosophy statement broad and it seems
like it is incorporated. Do you think the philosophy adequately covers the concerns about the
department evaluations being equitable and training for directors to achieve this? I realize it
provides for a performance and experience recognitions program. 1 know that you are going to
come back and make recommendations for policy that will be done administratively. One of the
concerns that I have heard is that departments evaluate differently and they don't have training. I
just want to make sure that is followed through properly in our HR division. Is this something
you feel like has been incorporated adequately?
• Carolyn Long: It's not in the Compensation Philosophy; I think there is another piece to the
Classification Compensation design that you are still going to anticipate and that is the
performance appraisal piece that I think the Compensation Committee is working on that.
Typically your effecting policy on that in your practices would be incorporated in an operational
document and that may change. What I would envision the Council doing is setting a document
now that sets the tone for where you want to be, that says we are going to be at least at the
market average. 1 would like to talk with the Compensation Committee about what that means
and how you are positioning yourself relative to the response of market that we have, which 1
think is all very positive. I think some of the questions that are still unanswered are going to
come in the next piece or they will come in the policy and the recommendations that we would
make with the Compensation Classification piece to actually give you the operational nuts and
bolts of this and know that those nuts and bolts can change as the times change. This is a very
general statement of what you see is key characteristics for employees. Some of these key
characteristics could be translated into performance standards if that is a key goal of the City but
I would not want to see too much locked into a philosophy document.
Alderman Ferrell: You are right Alderman Thiel, we heard during the Compensation
Committee hearings loud and clear about some of the things you talked about and that is coming
up in the third part of what we have been charged with. I would like to thank former Alderman
Marr for all the work he did on this. I would be interested to hear his comments about what he's
read about this being an HR professional. Carolyn, once again last night from what I read, a
• philosophy is a philosophy and a lot of communities don't have a philosophy; I think that is very
positive, there is flexibility built in, it is something to guide us. 1 think it is very fair. Thank you
for the work you did on it.
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Alderman Lucas: Just for clarification, 1 see it says conduct a market review every year and a •
comprehensive market survey every four years. What is involved in the market review every
year?
Carolyn Long: Typically, with a market review what we would recommend to you is you select
from the 80 benchmarks which are really 80 market rating pieces. Once the plan is set a
reprehensive benchmark for your different levels, probably around 25 or 30 benchmark jobs that
you would sort of see it as your key indicators of where the market is moving and we would give
you some guidelines on what to select and recommendations on those and then the
Compensation Committee could make a determination on that. Typically what you would do on
a market update is you contact the participants that you have decided are going to be your core
participants and ask them what they are planning on doing or have done with respect to the
market. You look at what the Economic Cost Indicator has been. I mentioned last night at the
meeting, the ECI which is not your cost of living indictor that is your economic cost indicator
that is the cost of the labor market; it is a bureau of labor statistics information that is published
regularly. The ECI for Local and State Government for the first two quarters in 2006 is 3.9%, so
you would look at what your pier and competitive employers are dong, you would look at the
economic cost indictor and then you would make a decision as to what kind of structure
adjustment you might be giving so that you are keeping your whole structure competitive. On the
fourth year mark you would redo your salary survey and go back out and collect the information
again. That should never put you in a position of being way behind. Every four years you would
be seeing if there have been any seismic shifts in your benchmark positions, that would say we
better go out and rethink this or do some more survey work on this group of employees. For
example, right before Y2K, the whole compensation for IT positions just went whacko; people •
were getting $50,000 raises to go other places. That could happen again with some other group
of employees or it could happen with IT positions again. But if you do it every couple of years
or every four years, every year you are testing the waters and every four years you are reworking
the thing. You should not ever fall behind again. Not that you are behind, looking forward you
wouldn't be behind.
Alderman Reynolds: Mayor, I would like to hear from our former chairman that's led us
through this thing from the start, Mr. Marr.
Mayor Coody: I asked former Alderman Don Marr to be at these meetings so we could have his
expertise.
Don Marr, Former Ward 2 Alderman: I think the philosophy is a good philosophy, it certainly
articulates what as a committee we heard. A couple of things that came to my mind that I think
the Council needs to think about as they adopt this and explain in the debate process for City
employees. When they hear us say we are an above average City, we are a top ten city and we
get these awards and things of that nature and then we talk about average pay match then I think
we have to explain the difference in that, we are not asking you to be above average and pay you
average. But when you look at our collective compensation which was a part of the overall
strategy that our benefit programs looking at the kinds of things we offer in combination with our
pay may make us better. Also the cities we select are a big part in who we are matching against. •
So if we are matching against stronger cities that have the same factor's that we have, then I
think it would be safe to say that their average is probably a better average than if you were
picking communities that were less economically valuable, not as good in growth factor and
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• things like that. 1 think it is just a matter of explaining what that means and I think Carolyn Long
would be able to speak to that. I think the Council and the Consultants are smart to advise that
every philosophy should have an economic gate keeper, if you will; that you can't get what you
don't have. For example, if you happen to be in New Orleans with Katrina then what you can do
with your pay is very different than what you would have done pre -Katrina. It changes the
market place and economic factors have to be taken into consideration. I think it would be
foolish to have a philosophy that doesn't incorporate that into it. With that said, I also think the
Council should have dialog and debate that articulates to the employees that, if we are in a tough
economic situation, where will employee compensation be placed in the category of priorities,
will it be in our first phase of priorities that we look at and how we allocate money, will it be
looked at equally across all items that we are seeking. I think it is justified to have some
discussion about that because 1 think the fear is that the company never has enough money and
the employees always want more money. So if we start from that premise in that there is an
economic factor that we have to take into consideration, what employees actually hear is that we
are never going get it fully implemented, you will probably hear that from people who will be
fearful of that. You have the responsibility to make sure and use citizen dollars to the best use
possible, you also want to get the most bang for your buck. If economic conditions are down
you can't give away what you don't have, but it's what gets prioritized and whether
compensation is seen as a swing budget item. I would just encourage you to make sure that
however you group categories of new expenditures that current compensation of current head
count in a tight economic time is looked at in the top priority area. It still may not be fully
implemented. It may mean that we don't add jobs so that we can take care of the people or the
• head count that we have or the services, which I think we already do that. 1 think it is very well
written. I don't think it's a magic bullet that does anything but articulate what you are already
doing, that's how I read it. I think we already try and pay at market or measure ourselves to
market with cities that we consider to be comparable and I think this document does that. I like
the points in there where it talks specifically about the flexibility in both hiring rates and
providing competition for existing employees that is flexible and internally equitable because I
think that is the other item that we have heard a lot about was internal equity, employees that
once you get into the structure the only way that you ever feel like you get tested is when the
next person gets hired at whatever rate they come in at, so I think it is good to have it as part of
the philosophy. 1 thought they did a very nice job in writing it and I think it is pretty accurate to
what 1 heard you say through the Compensation Committee.
Dominic Swanfeld, Police Sergeant representing the Fraternal Order of Police: The FOP is
concerned about the terminology in this philosophy of market average. Like Mr. Marr pointed
out it is very common for a city to reach out and tell other people how great of a city we are. It's
very common for the Council to let us know as employees how great we are, to advertise in
recruiting the great things, we are top ten this and top ten that, Fayetteville Vision 2020, top
quality responsive services, to me that doesn't equal average. There is an option here to ask for
average, market average or above market average. There are municipalities in this country that
ask in their philosophy statement to look for above market average pay and benefits. This
philosophy doesn't do that. There is a safe guard in this Philosophy right now to where we have
no guarantee that it will cover to get us to market. We have heard that if we don't have the
• money then we just are not going to get it, which we understand. There are times when the City
is working more effectively and the financial situations are better, there are times when it is not
so good, we understand that. Basically there is no guarantee that City employees will be kept at
a market average so what difference is there if the pay line is set above the market average. Is
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there any thing in the proposed philosophy that locks the City into providing an increase in •
compensation, no. We agreed that it must be concrete but flexible, but like other municipalities
that want above market, I think the Council members expect City services to be above average.
When you call the Police Department you want above average services and we want to give you
that, the citizens expect above average services. As employees of the City we would like to be,
at least in the Philosophy Statement, be paid above market, whatever that is. I am not going to
shoot for the stars, I am not going to ask to be paid the best, if there is 100 cities that we are
looking at we do not want to be the top of the line, but 50 is that competitive, if the Razorbacks
finish 5 and 5 this year is that competitive, I don't think so that is average.
This compensation, like Mr. Marr said, some of the things we have already been doing, we have
always been at market and we have always tried to get the market. In years past when we have
shot for market we have not been able to get there, it is half here and half there. I understand the
financial hardships here. In this philosophy we have talked about excellent work force, it doesn't
say average work force it says excellent, excellent does not convert to average. We need to
continue to lead by example, the State of the City Address in 2006 states we have the most
professional Police Department by far of any city in Arkansas or the region. Words are great.
Mayor Coody: I hope that was a true statement, I believe it was.
Mr. Swanfeld: Thank you sir, I appreciate your support tonight. We are concerned about that,
like we said we understand the financial situation. I think as an employee it would be great if our
Philosophy Statement said we would like to pay you folks above market, whatever you set that •
at. We are concerned of the economic reality. Where are we going to change ordinances in the
City to account for some extra money, where does the extra money go, does it go into reserves
just because it is extra. Do we hire more folks or do we expand services, I think that is a very
important thing the Council needs to decide in order to ensure that we are at least working
towards compensating employees. Again we are not asking you for the top.
Frank Johnson, Chief of Police: One thing I am going to ask you to consider is how you will
weigh the increase work load and call volume in a Police Department without any corresponding
increase in personnel, when considering competitiveness and overall Compensation Philosophy.
Basically, what I mean is that in the short two years that I was the Chief, I saw that when we
were developing a strategic plan, we were going to rely more on the existing resources and not
be as dependant on these dramatic increases in personnel that we had in previous years.
Basically I saw through the budget process that we were going to be doing more with less. The
Fayetteville Police Department has become more of a generalist Police Department, where an
officer on the street can answer a disturbance or may actually be the investing office conducting
a preliminary investigation, which may include locating trace evidence and processing it and so
fourth. As a Chief, I really got a lot out of them at a time I also saw that we weren't going to be
adding more officers. So I knew that some of the strategic plans that we where about to put in
place that I was going to be squeezing more out of them. I don't know how you weight that, how
you put a value on what they actually do when you start making those comparisons in the survey
groups. I can take a Fayetteville officer and compare it to another officer in the State and through
the course of the year, the Fayetteville officer will actually perform more duties, more variety of
duties and have more responsibilities and you will be getting more for that salary, so how do you •
make that comparison? At some point I think it is important for the officers to see that is a
factor, that you weigh that in. I have checked and these guys do a lot of work comparatively
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• with agencies of similar sizes that make up the survey group. I would like for you to strongly
consider that to.
Mayor Coody:
You
have been an
excellent Chief and we really hate to see you go.
Congratulations on
your
new position.
Alderman Thiel: I would like to follow up on what Dominic Swanfeld said. We do ask for
above average employees because we are asking them to work harder rather than hiring new
people, plus I think we do really expect a lot and our citizens expect a lot. Was there a consensus
on the questionnaires because I remember the way I responded about the above average pay.
Did you have a consensus on that? I certainly felt like we are asking for above average service.
Carolyn Long: I would suggest after listening to the very excellent comments that were made
tonight and I think they had some good valid points, if there is a desire to change this, in the
sense that you adopt this philosophy you are setting the baseline for what is going to be the
policy in the City, you could put in a statement with `not less than the average market,' which
would maybe transmit the fact that you are leaving the door open, you are not saying it has to be
the average but not less than the average, which would at least establish that floor without
specifying where you want to be. I really caution you to try and avoid putting any sort of specific
number, targets, or goals in here.
Alderman Thiel: Such as above average?
• Carolyn Long: I think there are so many elements to how that might be interpreted. If you use
the average of the market everybody knows what that is. If you say that not less than, then you
are open on an annual basis as you are doing your budgeting process to determine what that
factor might be if you have the economic resources to go above the market average. I know that
you have a very excellent workforce here; I know you are striving to retain that, your overall
compensation position is always and continues to be competitive. I would caution you to avoid
language that appears to be lacking in a position. Everybody knows what the average of the
market is once you have determined what your market is and hopefully we are helping you do
that then the average is a numerical score. It's an ambiguous figure. It's open for debate as to
what was the intent of the Council in this philosophy. If the intent of the Council was not less
than the market average, then I think you have said you are telegraphing that we are open to
more than that, but we are not putting a target goal in there. I will tell you that many Council's
struggle to be at the market average. You are in an excellent position from the research that I
have done you are in a good competitive position; your market that has responded is very highly
completive. That would be my suggestion.
Alderman Thiel: I would like to make that amendment then, competitive with not less than
average market salaries.
Mayor Coody: We have a motion to amend. The language would be competitive but not less
than the average market.
is Kit Williams, City Attorney: Is this on page three?
Carolyn Long: Page five, the first bullet point.
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Alderman Thiel: Provide a base compensation structure that is competitive with not less than •
the average market salaries.
Mayor Coody: So the floor would be average or above not average or below?
Alderman Jordan: That's right.
Alderman Ferrell: What happens in a situation, where something happens here but not to the
cities around us, just here? Is there going to be an understanding among everybody that we are
not going to be able to do it, or are we going to be held to the language in this?
Alderman Thiel:
Don Marr suggested that we
put something
in here with that wording but he
didn't say what.
did a survey before that when
the results came
out, everybody said we like those
Alderman Ferrell: I was just wondering if that should happen, where we would be if we are
doing an average and we look at the markets around us, it didn't hit them but it hit us. I think it's
something that we should ponder.
Mayor Coody: My impression would be that this wouldn't be a legally binding document as
much as a philosophy or guide. I think that if we got hit by a tornado and we really had some
binds, this philosophy could be shifted to make way for a new reality. We would be allowed to
do that wouldn't we? •
Kit Williams: Certainly this is just a guide like the 2025 Plan is a guide and it's not binding in
either direction. If you look at page three at the top it says budgetary constraints were viewed as
a limiting factor in the implementation of any compensation philosophy, so you are
acknowledging that budget constraints can play a factor no matter what you would like to do.
Afderman
Ferrell: My reason for asking
that question
is one of the reasons we are here is
because we
did a survey before that when
the results came
out, everybody said we like those
results but
then they weren't the accurate
results. That caused some frustration among the
employees,
they wanted to go to the higher number, not
to the one we were able to do. That
causes me great concern. I want to be fair
and 1 want to
be equitable, that is the reason for my
concern but
if the economic situation of the
City dictates
what it can be, I don't have a problem
with your amendment.
Alderman Lucas: 1 like the way it was stated, competitive with the average market. That
seems like it can be above or average, but it has to be competitive. I thought you covered that
quite well. I was concerned about locking us in also because there may be times when we have
economic tum down.
Alderman Rhoads: I don't have a problem saying that we will strive to be above average,
what's above average, barely, a whole lot? I don't see the difference in saying above average
and saying average is the floor.
•
Mayor Coody: Kit, do you have an amendment worded?
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. Alderman Thiel: Under hiring it would state provide a compensation structure that's
competitive with not less than the average market salaries as incorporated into the City's
Compensation and Classification Plan.
Dominic Swanfeld: If the Aldermen were posed with that question, do you want your
employees to be paid at market or above market if there is some consensus from within the
Council and I suspect there was if that's what the data is showing. Alderman Thiel has
expressed her position. We would support Alderman Rhoads feeling of above average. You see
places out there that are 5% above the average, they talk about percentiles, where do you want to
be on the percentiles and I know the consultant suggested not using percentiles which 1 can
appreciate. At the bare minimum above average, I believe would be sufficient. Alderman
Ferrell's question cleared up some things for me as well, I understand this is not binding, if the
finances are not there, but let's at least put it there. If we can do it let's do it. The thing that's
interesting to me, Ms. Long told me that there are jurisdictions out there that do ask to be paid
above market, my question would be, what is the wording in that term, are there some agencies
or municipalities that ask to be paid above market and how do they word it? 1 can appreciate her
shying away on asking to stay away from that but if that is what the feeling is of the Council,
citizens and employees that we give above average service then we would like to be
compensated above average.
Don Marr: 1 completely agree with the consultant that there should not be percentages in a
Compensation Philosophy that's a guiding document; it's like a 2020 Plan not an ordinance. 1
• hope you will think about it that way. The other thing is you need to keep in mind expectations,
if we all looked at a photo, a very narrow spot, what do you think we can see and then we went
away from that photo and actually saw the picture, we might have eight different opinions of
what we thought we were looking at. I would encourage you that your philosophy should reflect
what you expect to do. If nine times out of ten you are not going to meet above average
implementation you need to think about that when you design your philosophy. If you are going
to define your expectation as total compensation, because you all are talking about a specific
item; you are talking about base pay per hour, matching that average to market unless the
consultant is doing this consolidated total comp. number, which I don't think the RFP called for.
This is one component of the Compensation Philosophy that you are looking at, you then add on
the benefit side of it. There was feedback that the committee heard specifically about the Police
Department whether it was cars, uniforms; there are other items that might be looked at that gets
you to your above market philosophy. When you think about what you are going to implement,
where we have conflict between employees, citizens, and elected officials of the City is
expectation of implementation. As you set this philosophy think about that.
Alderman Rhoads: 1 guess I would ask that you still think about amending your motion to read
as follows and let me explain. I would rather have an expectation to strive for the best pay that
you could possibly pay the City employees and knowing that this is a philosophy and not a law
and not an ordinance and that if market conditions tell you that you that you have to pull back
then you pull back. The expectation that I would want the average City employees to have is we
are going to try and pay you as much as we can; we are going to strive to be a little bit above
• average. We may ask you to drive that patrol car one more year, or we may cut back in
something else, but when it comes to paying you we would rather pay you as much as we can
and we will cut back if times get tough. We may cdt your budget and say you can only hire three
people versus five people. That's the expectations that I would rather create. So I would suggest
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it reads as follows providing a base compensation structure that is competitive and strives to be •
above average in market salaries as incorporated in the City's Compensation and Classification
Plan. So that is competitive and strives to be above average.
Alderman Thiel: Ok, I will make that revision.
Alderman Ferrell: I am all in favor of treating our employees as good as we can. I can't
support that amendment and 1 will tell you why. Because the first time we can't do it and I know
it doesn't have the support of law but I guarantee we will hear from organizations and work force
organizations. Don Man talked about expectations and I think the expectations will be there and
we will hear about it again despite what happens, I think that's human nature. I am not putting
the blame on anybody except human nature. I am sorry but I won't be able to support that.
Alderman Thiel: I think the fact that Alderman Rhoads added strives to be above average, this
is a philosophy and I think that makes it sound like a philosophy. In other words, I think
Alderman Rhoads and I support that the City will strive to have above average market salaries.
This is the base compensation structure but it also is one of the problems we encounter with high
turnover in some of our levels because our base is not competitive or is not slightly above
average. I think it is a philosophy, the fact that the word strive was put in there makes it pretty
clear that the philosophy is that we will strive to do this and obviously if conditions don't allow
we won't be able to. I certainly support the way it was reworded and the way Alderman Rhoads
worded it.
Alderman Lucas: I feel more comfortable with that. 1 understand what Alderman Ferrell is is
saying and Don Marr is saying about expectations. 1 certainly want our employees to be paid
well and I want the salaries to be competitive and we expect a lot from our employees and they
really come through for us. 1 feel better with this strive to be above average but again you know
how I feel about resolutions, sometimes they suddenly become the law, so I want us to be sure
and understand that this is a resolution, it dictates that if we can't be above average that's not
going to be the expectation. I will support that.
Alderman Jordan: I would like to add, when you put in the word strive and you strive to do
something that means that you strive to be the best you can be. What I think the employees are
asking for is that we strive to give them the best we can and if we can't they will have to
understand about budget constraints. 1 don't have a problem with that because I think when you
strive to do something you may not always be able to do that but you try to do that. I think that's
what they are asking us to do and 1 will support that.
Alderman Cook: I think everyone of us wants to pay our employees well, there is no doubt
about that but I don't care how much money you want to pay somebody it's the workload that's
going to drive the way they feel. I think we put a lot of pressure on staff in all our departments
whether it Fire, Police, Planning, and Engineering. We talk about heaven forbid there be tornado
and it affects our budget, I think the tornado is here and that's growth and we deal with that
everyday in the City. It affects our staff everyday in everything they do. I think as a Council and
as administration we have to think a lot about policy decisions we make whether it's adding •
more services in the City or whether it's annexing more land which creates more work for the
City's staff. Every decision we make in this body affects the workload of staff out there. We
want to pay them well there is no question about that, but at the same time there is only so much
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Special City Council Meeting Minutes
August 29, 2006
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• we can add to them when it doesn't matter how much we are paying they just can't take
anymore. I am supporting the amendment, don't get me wrong, but I think there are policy
decisions that we make that affect the way staff feels that is above and beyond how much we pay
them and how many benefits we give them. It's a matter of how much workload we give them
and the way they see how much workload we give them and the way they see how we dictate
what the future of the City is.
Alderman Reynolds: I would like to think about this as not just Police and Fire, but every
department we have. I hope we strive to pay them the best we can and I think Carolyn said it
best; we are going to have some good years and some bad years. , Last night she was talking
about it, if we have a good year we can reward our employees, if we have a bad year they are
going to have to understand we are not going to be able to do that. I hope they don't think
because this wording has changed that next year we automatically have to come up with above
average pay, because the money may not be there. I will support it but with the understanding
that they know if the money is not there it can't happen.
Alderman Thiel moved to amend the resolution to read providing a base compensation
structure that is competitive and strives to be above average in market salaries as incorporated
in the City's Compensation and Classification Plan. Upon roll call the amendment passed 6-
1. Alderman Ferrell voting no.
Mayor Coody asked shall the resolution pass. Upon roll call the resolution passed 6-1.
• Alderman Ferrell voting no.
Resolution 138-06 as recorded in the Office of the City Clerk.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
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