HomeMy WebLinkAboutJANUARY 16, 2018 WORKSHOP COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA
JANUARY 16, 2018
The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for a workshop in Room 101, 500
Quartermaster Court,Jeffersonville, Indiana at 5:00 pm, on Tuesday,January 16, 2017.The roll call was
conducted and those present were: Councilperson White, Councilperson Jahn, Councilperson Maples,
Councilperson Hawkins, Council President Gill, Councilperson Owen, Councilperson Ellis, and
Councilperson Samuel. Councilperson Zastawny was absent. Council President Gill, with Vicki Conlin,
City Clerk, called the Council Workshop to order at 5:00 pm.
Council President Gill said she would like to have the agenda amended to reflect her appointment for
the Drainage Board. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to AMEND with Councilperson Hawkins
seconding, ending on a vote, 6-2 with Councilperson White and Councilperson Maples voting against. It
was discussed that previously the agenda could only be amended with a unanimous vote from the
Council. Council President Gill said she was unsure what the issue was but that she would wait to make
her appointment during the regular Council proceedings.
1. Kim Calabro—Human Resources Director Kim Calabro introduced Elizabeth Gross from Parkland
HR for recommendations for the salary ordinance. Liz passed out some information. Liz said her
goal for the night was not to have the Council review the recommendations and either approve
or deny the recommendations. The goal for the workshop is to give the information then give
the Council time to review it before another workshop to answer questions and refine changes.
Liz said any questions between now and then can be filtered through Kim. This is more of an
informational meeting.
There are four main points, identifying the needs for the Compensation System for 2018.
• Maintaining internal and external market competitiveness for the City of Jeffersonville.
• Provide market base pay ranges which provide a competitive starting wage and allow
for upward movement.
• Address the impact of maintaining the Longevity Pay Plan on pay transparency, plan
administration and cost.
• Provide general recommendation for an alternative performance reward system for
employees who have capped.
Liz said in light of providing background, in 2016 the City set the base level of pay for exempt
employees to$47,476 that was due to being in line with the Department of Labor. After the
elections came that did not go through and it is still pending. Liz said the City went ahead and
said that they were going to make that their base and that all exempt level employees were
going be moved to that.
Councilperson Ellis asked Ms. Gross could explain what an exempt level employee was. Ms.
Gross said it is a technical concept that it is a position that is exempt from being paid overtime
and there are certain requirements that a job must have in order to be exempt status. And in
the City's circumstance it has to meet this salary level. These are usually more professional
positions. Councilperson Jahn said one component is if the job has a fundraising component or
a sales component.
Councilperson Owen said just for clarification the Council did raise those pay levels in
anticipation of the Department of Labor passing that threshold. But there was never an
adoption of a City Policy stating that anyone who was exempt would get that pay, this was in
reaction to federal guidelines. So if we were to create a new position in 2019 we would not
have to meet the$47,476 guidelines because that guideline was rescinded.
Ms. Gross said her understanding of it was that anyone coming in as an exempt employee would
be starting out at that number and that's why those people were moved up to that number and
a lot of what she is presenting tonight is being driven by that new base.
Councilperson Owen said they moved the existing positions to that amount but a policy was
never adopted saying that new employees would meet that amount. Ms. Gross asked if an
exempt position was approved they may decide to not pay that base. This is could throw the
paygrade out of line. Ms. Gross said that you will not be hiring someone in an exempt position
for less than that amount of money. If they make less than that then they would be hourly.
Clerk Conlin said her Chief Deputy Position during that time was hourly and because the position
did not pay what was being proposed by the federal government it was not able to be exempt.
But when the stay was put on, Clerk Conlin was able to make that an exempt position. It
currently does not make anywhere near the $47,476 amount. Ms. Gross said it is critical for an
employer to determine exempt or non-exempt that specific guidelines be followed and that no
individual or department heads make those determinations. They have to meet specific
requirements and within the City how that is set up is it needs to go through Kim and she will
send it Ms. Gross to determine or make a recommendation whether the job needs to change.
The last thing you want to do is to call a position exempt when in fact it is not. If there was an
audit from wage and hourly and they determine that it was not you are on the hook to pay the
hourly amount but also for them to look at all of the employees. It's a dangerous ground to go
down.
Clerk Conlin stated that as an elected official she did have the approval to make the exempt
employee and she also contacted Wage and Hourly before she did it and she did change the job
description.
Ms. Gross said this is the first she is hearing of a request for that positon and if she recalls
correctly a deputy clerk position that would not be one that she would recommend as exempt
status.
Clerk Conlin said she had checked with other second class cities and there are Deputy Clerks that
are exempt.
Ms. Gross said that this is not on the agenda to discuss a specific job that she is not prepared to
discuss. There are a lot more important things to discuss.
Ms. Gross said that it is her recommendation to keep the base line at the$47,476 and anything
below that be hourly. A position can always be made hourly.
There were specific questions about CDLs and whether they are meeting the market level in
order to retain employees. She also looked at other positions within the City. Adjusting the
salary ranges will allow for more upward growth and will address the issue of the number of
employees who are capped in pay.
Additionally she would like to discuss the Longevity Pay. There are currently 81 employees who
participate in this program that was once offered. It is no longer offered to new hires. Ms.
Gross went over the Longevity Pay plan and the addressed the concerns with it. The amount
will increase next year, it can be paid out a multitude of ways, and it distorts an employee's
actual compensation when reviewing placement in the range or internal/external market equity.
It was recommended in 2012 to discontinue the plan and freeze the value and add it to the
employee's base pay. It is estimated that the City has paid an additional $80,000 since 2013 to
fund this plan.
In 2018 you have 18 employees who are capped at their pay. 16 of those receive Longevity Pay
which actually puts them outside of their pay grade.
Another recommendation Ms. Gross made is that the hiring personnel have the option to hire
someone in at 35%of their pay range. Currently the max is 25% unless Council permission is
obtained. Unless that is done within 24 hours you are losing quality candidates in a competitive
market. From a market standpoint it's typically 50%.
Wider pay ranges for each pay grade eliminates all but one capped employee for 2018. There
are 14 pay ranges. Paygrades 1-7 are non-exempt positions while 8-14 are exempt. The
estimated impact to bring to a new minimum of the range is$51,509.
It is her overall recommendation to discontinue the Longevity Pay Plan and add the value of the
individuals plan benefit as of January 1, 2018 to the employee's base pay. Another option to the
Longevity Pay Plan (should the City choose) is to recognize employees that is not tied to
additional compensation.
Ms. Gross recommended to continue capping employees pay. The goal is to move experienced
employees to the midpoint of the range (market average).
The City could also offer alternative reward programs for employees who have reached the top
of they pay grade.
Councilperson White said we are getting ready to have new homes with the median cost of
$180,000 and asked Ms. Gross to point out which of the employees would be able to purchase a
house of that cost with what the City pays. Ms. Gross said there are variables that go into that
that makes it unable for her to answer. He would like to know how much someone would need
to make in order to afford a house of that nature.
After Ms. Gross left it was further discussed that Ms. Calabro would meet with a small
committee of the Council to further discuss this and before the next meeting with Ms. Gross.
Ms. Calabro said she would like to see something done with these issues and a decision made.
Councilperson Jahn, Councilperson White, Councilperson Zastawny(if he would like), and
Councilperson Owen will be on that committee.
ADJOURNMENT:
Councilperson Jahn made a motion to ADJOURN the Council Workshop at 6:36 pm.
APPROVED
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Vicki Conlin, Clerk