MONROE - Some members of the Salary and Personnel Committee were not pleased Monday, having received more information on the methods of the city's employment compensation plan, learning how non-union department head positions were scored and placed in a new pay table, and then discovering three positions had been improperly placed in that table after the common council voted Dec. 4 to approve the pay adjustments.
The committee took no action on recommending approval of the new employee pay plan, which would guide future pay raises. But it did recommend correcting the three positions that were not right in the original council pay adjustment resolution earlier this month.
Committee members received a written copy of how positions were scored and moved into their new pay scale by step and grade. City Administrator Phil Rath verbally supplied a summary review of that information in early December, when the committee looked at the new pay scale he had created.
But the in-depth, written narrative brought to light more information for at least one committee member, Brooke Bauman.
"I feel we made a decision without all the information available to us," she said.
"It's not a bad decision, but a rushed decision," she added.
Bauman was one of the six council members who voted to approve the new pay scale Dec. 4. Jan Lefevre, Tyler Schultz and Sara Conway voted against.
Though Bauman says she still agrees with raising department heads' pay, she said she now wishes all the information had been made available to the committee and council before the vote.
"We were not given all the information," she said. "(When) we find out later, it kind of puts us in a tough spot."
Bauman said she does not fully agree with the subjective way in which points were awarded for different aspects of a job.
Rath said he weighted some aspects of a job for more points in areas that he saw as more valuable or of greater responsibility.
Committee member Jan Lefevre objected to automatic step increases, increased pay for length of employment, when an employee is performing below par. But Rath said there are other tools to use for correcting and disciplining subpar performance.
"A substandard employee should be removed," he said.
New hires are started on the pay scale at 15 percent below average market pay. By the time they are at step 10, they would arrive at mid-range for pay. The city can award an extra pay step to a high performing employee, Rath added.
The city's pay scale, set up by council resolution in 1996, had become out of sync with real market pay, according to Rath. The pay scale was not kept up-to-date, and no council member or city staff member could explain why it hadn't.
"If they had been given raises according to the plan implemented, they would have been where they are after our action (Dec. 4)," said Michael Boyce, alderman. "We were just left to clean up the mess."
Boyce called the new 67-page plan report a "solid, firm plan."
Despite online complaints about the pay adjustments, committee members said they have not received calls from constituents about the huge pay raises.
"As many years as I have been on council, and as many promises (for pay increases) as we have made and nothing ever transpired on them, we have to start somewhere," said Charles Schuringa, committee chairman. "We put a lot on them, and they put a lot out. There's a hundred to two hundred years of service among them. There were promises made and not given out to all. I haven't met one person on the street or business people who want to discard any of it."
Tom Miller, committee member, said the city does need a wage increase plan. "Large corporations have them and we need them too," he said. But he also noted "getting information at the last minute" was not conducive to doing the city's business.
"We come to meetings and then find out we need more information," he said. "More information means better decisions. We need some things in writing, something to go by."
The committee voted unanimously to recommend to council approval to correct three job title positions on the pay scale:
City Clerk will be on Step 8, for an annual pay of $57,200 (not on Step 7 at $56,300). The Engineering Supervisor will be on Step 11, for an annual pay of $62,400 not on Step 8 at $59,600). The Water Department Supervisor will be at a Grade 16 for an annual salary of $66,900 (not Grade 17 at $69,400).
The corrections result in a net total of $1,123 added to the original pay adjustments totaled $152,000.
The committee took no action on recommending approval of the new employee pay plan, which would guide future pay raises. But it did recommend correcting the three positions that were not right in the original council pay adjustment resolution earlier this month.
Committee members received a written copy of how positions were scored and moved into their new pay scale by step and grade. City Administrator Phil Rath verbally supplied a summary review of that information in early December, when the committee looked at the new pay scale he had created.
But the in-depth, written narrative brought to light more information for at least one committee member, Brooke Bauman.
"I feel we made a decision without all the information available to us," she said.
"It's not a bad decision, but a rushed decision," she added.
Bauman was one of the six council members who voted to approve the new pay scale Dec. 4. Jan Lefevre, Tyler Schultz and Sara Conway voted against.
Though Bauman says she still agrees with raising department heads' pay, she said she now wishes all the information had been made available to the committee and council before the vote.
"We were not given all the information," she said. "(When) we find out later, it kind of puts us in a tough spot."
Bauman said she does not fully agree with the subjective way in which points were awarded for different aspects of a job.
Rath said he weighted some aspects of a job for more points in areas that he saw as more valuable or of greater responsibility.
Committee member Jan Lefevre objected to automatic step increases, increased pay for length of employment, when an employee is performing below par. But Rath said there are other tools to use for correcting and disciplining subpar performance.
"A substandard employee should be removed," he said.
New hires are started on the pay scale at 15 percent below average market pay. By the time they are at step 10, they would arrive at mid-range for pay. The city can award an extra pay step to a high performing employee, Rath added.
The city's pay scale, set up by council resolution in 1996, had become out of sync with real market pay, according to Rath. The pay scale was not kept up-to-date, and no council member or city staff member could explain why it hadn't.
"If they had been given raises according to the plan implemented, they would have been where they are after our action (Dec. 4)," said Michael Boyce, alderman. "We were just left to clean up the mess."
Boyce called the new 67-page plan report a "solid, firm plan."
Despite online complaints about the pay adjustments, committee members said they have not received calls from constituents about the huge pay raises.
"As many years as I have been on council, and as many promises (for pay increases) as we have made and nothing ever transpired on them, we have to start somewhere," said Charles Schuringa, committee chairman. "We put a lot on them, and they put a lot out. There's a hundred to two hundred years of service among them. There were promises made and not given out to all. I haven't met one person on the street or business people who want to discard any of it."
Tom Miller, committee member, said the city does need a wage increase plan. "Large corporations have them and we need them too," he said. But he also noted "getting information at the last minute" was not conducive to doing the city's business.
"We come to meetings and then find out we need more information," he said. "More information means better decisions. We need some things in writing, something to go by."
The committee voted unanimously to recommend to council approval to correct three job title positions on the pay scale:
City Clerk will be on Step 8, for an annual pay of $57,200 (not on Step 7 at $56,300). The Engineering Supervisor will be on Step 11, for an annual pay of $62,400 not on Step 8 at $59,600). The Water Department Supervisor will be at a Grade 16 for an annual salary of $66,900 (not Grade 17 at $69,400).
The corrections result in a net total of $1,123 added to the original pay adjustments totaled $152,000.