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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council-Minutes-7/30/2013 City of Colleyville City Council Worksession Agenda City Hall 100 Main Street Colleyville, Texas 76034 817. 503.1000 www.colleyville.com Tuesday, July 30, 2013 6:00 p.m. Executive Conference Room Third Floor, City Hall 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION 2a Presentation and discussion of the classification and compensation study 3. ADJOURNMENT I hereby certify this agenda was posted on City Hall bulletin boards Friday, July 26, 2013 by 5:00 p.m. Amy Shelley City Secretary Any matter on this agenda may, at the discretion of the governing body, be opened for public comment and discussion. If you plan to attend this public meeting and have a disability that requires special accommodations, please advise the City Secretary at least 48 hours in advance at 817.503.1133, and reasonable accommodations will be made to assist you. City of Colleyville Page 1 City of Colleyville City Council Worksession Minutes City Hall 100 Main Street Colleyville, Texas 76034 817. 503.1000 www.colleyville.com Tuesday, July 30, 2013 Executive Conference Room Third Floor – City Hall Mayor David Kelly called the Worksession of the Colleyville City Council to order on July 30, 2013, at 6:12 p.m. ROLL CALL: Mayor David Kelly, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Taylor and Councilmembers Carol Wollin, Chuck Mogged, Stan Hall, Jody Short, and Tom Hart. City Manager Jennifer Fadden, Assistant City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Terry Leake, Captain Robert Hinton, Interim Fire Chief Clif Nelson, Human Resources Director Michelle Reyes, Parks and Recreation and Library Director Mary Rodne, Colleyville Center Manager Leslie Hill, Public Works Director Bob Lowry, City Engineer Jeremy Hutt, Finance Manager Karen Hines, Community Development Director Ron Ruthven, Communications and Marketing Director Mona Gandy, Strategic Services Manager Adrienne Lothery, Information Systems Manager Chris Pena and City Secretary Amy Shelley. 2. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION 2a Presentation and discussion of the classification and compensation study Human Resources Director Michelle Reyes presented the classification and compensation results and options for implementation. Councilmember Mogged questioned staff regarding if the base salaries were used for comparison within the mixture of the private and public sector, sworn and non- sworn employees. Director Reyes replied yes, the numbers are base salaries. Mayor Kelly questioned staff regarding if the detailed questionnaire was sent out to help determine the current job responsibilities. Director Reyes replied yes, the employees were given a position description questionnaire. She added the supervisors and directors were to review and sign off on those as well. Mayor Kelly questioned staff regarding if the bands are based on similar job responsibilities. Director Reyes replied yes. Councilmember Short stated he is struggling with how to take into account the supply and demand of the market place. Director Reyes stated this program has flexibility in that there are wider pay ranges so that people can be hired in at various stages within those ranges. Mayor Kelly stated this flexibility exists whereas before it did not. City of Colleyville Page 1 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Councilmember Short stated it does not seem to take into account the popularity of the job. Director Reyes concurred and added that the position will be moved from the current position into the new place within the band. Councilmember Wollin questioned staff regarding if any other smaller communities, within Texas, were used in the comparison and that may be more comparable to Colleyville. Director Reyes stated College Station. Mayor Kelly added College Station is not much bigger than Colleyville, minus the student population. Director Reyes concurred. Councilmember Wollin questioned staff regarding how long College Station has been using the band system. Director Reyes replied they have had it since 1997 or 1998. Councilmember Wollin questioned staff regarding if College Station has encountered any problems. Director Reyes stated she is unaware of having any problems with the band system. Councilmember Hart questioned staff regarding if there are some mechanisms in place in order to change the policy, if the economy were to change? Director Reyes replied no. Mayor Kelly stated the current structure is not competitive. Councilmember Hart stated his current company, AT&T, has been using the band method, and it does work within a large environment. He added there is really nothing to it. Councilmember Mogged stated John Deere also used broader bands with fewer classifications. Councilmember Hart questioned staff regarding if there is lateral movement. Director Reyes replied yes. Councilmember Hall stated there are still challenges with requiring certain qualifications and expertise. Councilmember Short stated he likes the concept, but not sure about the implementation, why would the employee be put at the top of the band in the new system, if they are already topped out. Mayor Kelly questioned City Council regarding if the City Council is good with the philosophy. Councilmember Hall stated he thought City Council decided the philosophy was good. Councilmember Wollin stated she had not decided. City of Colleyville Page 2 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Councilmember Wollin stated she is struggling with incorporating the public and private sector comparisons. She stated she would like to see a current working model with just the public sector. Councilmember Hall questioned staff regarding if employees leave to go to the private sector. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated she can speak to where we have hired people from the private sector. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding the cities which responded to the survey; it does not appear any cities are listed on the information we received. Director Reyes stated the names of the cities were left out for privacy reasons. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated he is struggling with a few issues. He added he does not like the banding system, but that the employees are due some compensation adjustment. Mayor Kelly stated the acceptance of this policy does not mean that the employee will move up in their band each year. City Manager Jennifer Fadden concurred. Councilmember Hall stated if Council does not want to accept the new broad band structure, then something else needs to replace it since the current structure is not working. Councilmember Mogged stated replacing the current system with the broad bands will help management move forward. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated an orderly structure needs to be put in place. He added he liked the capping of the percentage and stated he must be able to defend this new philosophy. Councilmember Hart questioned staff regarding the number of employees in each position based on the information given to City Council. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained each line on the worksheet indicates one person. Councilmember Hart stated the bands are great; let’s get the best qualified people here for the City Manager to work with. Councilmember Hall stated the performance will reflect what that person either is going to receive or not. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained if an employee is not performing, there will be measures in place to handle that situation. Mayor Kelly stated the budget needs to be finalized within the next couple of weeks therefore the City Manager needs input from City Council regarding the implementation of this program. City of Colleyville Page 3 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated he would like to allocate an amount of money to serve to pass the budget, and then this topic can be reviewed further. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding the budget. City Manager Jennifer Fadden replied staff does not want to present a budget with a moving target. Councilmember Hall stated Alternative 4 could be implemented at a lower cost. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated the philosophy is not the issue, the rapid acceleration in the cost in payroll and the sustainability of it in the future is the issue. Mayor Kelly stated if the broad band system is going to be implemented, there are costs associated with this implementation. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated having an issue with giving a one year employee a 30 percent increase in just a one year timeframe. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned Mayor Kelly regarding what about the people who are overpaid in the new band. Mayor Kelly stated staff is not proposing decreasing salaries. Councilmember Mogged stated the production of a performance system will help evaluate those employees to ensure they are within the appropriate range. Director Reyes stated an alternative would be to move those employees up, who currently do not meet the minimum, while creating a little bit of compression, but then everyone else is within their band, and then the extra dollars could be spent on performance. Councilmember Wollin stated she could accept that alternative; the $662,000 is too much for her to accept, at this time. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated the 10 percent cap is more palatable. Mayor Kelly stated there are still concerns from City Councilmembers regarding the compensation model. Councilmember Mogged questioned staff regarding if this assumes Alternative 1 increases will start October 1, for everybody. Director Reyes replied yes. Councilmember Mogged questioned staff regarding what is the largest percentage increase in the cap of $5,000, with Alternative 2? Director Reyes replied 22 percent. City of Colleyville Page 4 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated the midpoint (market) of the range is considered 100 or 1. Councilmember Hall questioned staff regarding how many employees would be below the minimum of the range for Alternative 2. Director Reyes replied 20 employees would be below. Councilmember Short stated it would seem that with Alternative 5, all employees would eventually reach their anniversary date of hire with the same budget year. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor concurred. Director Reyes stated all employees would not reach their anniversary date of hire on October 1. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding employee performance evaluations. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated the timing of the performance evaluations is currently being reviewed. She stated staff is considering the evaluations being due at the same time of the year versus on the anniversary date of hire, so that there is a better snapshot of what performance has been like for the past 12 months. She added they will want to do what works better for the culture of the organization. Mayor Kelly stated he likes the dollar increase over the percentage on the cost summary page. Councilmember Short questioned staff regarding if we are tied to going to full implementation with this system, especially if we approve the $5,000 maximum increase as outlined in Alternative 2 and then use the merit system to help to implement the remaining. Mayor Kelly answered if the philosophy is approved, then the employee has to be moved into their appropriate bands. Councilmember Short questioned staff regarding if they come in at the top of their new band, do they deserve to be at that top band. Director Reyes stated those employees will just stay there and frozen. Councilmember Hall stated if the $484,891, in Alternative 2 is approved, it will be up to the City Manager to allocate. City Manager Jennifer Fadden questioned Director Reyes regarding how many employees are at or above the current midpoint. Director Reyes replied 39. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained the majority of the employees are below the midpoint, currently of their range. She added that in looking at the process to get the study results, they are slotted where they should be, in terms of internal equity first, grouping like jobs together and then laying the market on top. City of Colleyville Page 5 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Councilmember Short stated if the entire $662,000 is approved, and no matter the philosophy, the City Manager would implement the plan, and lay out the percentages for us. Councilmember Hall stated since the study has already been paid for, it makes more sense to move towards this market study. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated City Council has to decide which implementation alternative can be approved and still get to the end. Councilmember Hall stated the increases do not have to be done at one time. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned City Council regarding Alternative 4, to spread the cost. Councilmember Hall stated the system can be implemented without using the entire $662,000. Councilmember Mogged stated the employees could be brought into the system and then the performance system can take care of the rest. Director Reyes stated the cost to move the employees, who are below the new minimum, would be $285,000. She stated by doing this, there will be employees who will receive more than a 10 percent increase. She stated the remaining dollars could then be used for the performance system. Councilmember Wollin stated that cost would take effect on October 1, and then the remaining cost would take place upon the anniversary date of hire. Director Reyes explained the employee would move no greater than 90 percent of the midpoint. Councilmember Short stating having concerns for an employee, who is at 30 percent of the current system, automatically moving to 30 percent of the new band system. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained that the new system does not have a 30 percent and she further explained the band system. Councilmember Hall stated it is not necessary to move the employee to the same percentage in the new system. Mayor Kelly stated the compensation plan will have broader bands and only adjustments will be made to those not within the new band at a cost of $285,000. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding if the employee or equivalent peer, will get the same increase given that they will be doing the same or similar job. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained that philosophically our perspective City of Colleyville Page 6 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 in terms of the classification system takes into account internal equity. She stated an increase will be based on the employee’s performance regardless of the person next to them. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding how employees in the same pay scale, identical employees, are going to be handled in the new system? City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained there are multiple positions within that classification band, all similar expectations of service delivery and complexity of work, and should all be treated similarly within the organization in terms of where they go in the classification system. She added any increase will be based on the employee’s performance. Councilmember Hart questioned staff regarding how will recruitment be seen with the current employees, will this be received positively? City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated the City is trending toward a 20 percent turnover rate for this year. Councilmember Hart questioned staff regarding if staff anticipates the band structure and improvements to be made, will stop some of this. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated we want to prevent the good employees that are providing a valuable service to the community, from going to the neighboring city, and get paid better for the same job. She stated we want to be fairly compensating our employees for the service they provide. Councilmember Hart stated this will be used as a retention tool, as well as a recruitment tool. City Manager Jennifer Fadden replied yes. Councilmember Hart stated there will be flexibility within this system. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained this will create internal equity to be able to move with the market in the future. Mayor Kelly explained the employees will have to be able to move within the range. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding if this includes the total package or is this base salary only? Director Reyes replied this is total cost including benefits. Councilmember Mogged questioned City Council regarding what if this were to be addressed by using the $285,000 to move those up to the new minimum, and then allow the City Manager to use the remaining, $130,000 to be used for performance. Councilmember Short stated this may cause a little bit of compression but the performance may help with that. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated being in favor of Alternative 4. City of Colleyville Page 7 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 City Manager Jennifer Fadden questioned Director Reyes regarding how many employees are impacted by this compression by moving the ones to the new minimum. Director Reyes replied approximately 50-60 are affected. Mayor Kelly stated the majority of the employees are going to stay exactly where they are today regarding pay but they will be in the new pay range and band. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated we need to clean up the problem and at least buy into the structure. He added having reservations about the cost. Councilmember Mogged stated the equity does not seem to fit in the classification system since people will fall in different areas of the band; maybe the performance will take care of that. Councilmember Short concurred. Mayor Kelly stated there may be some disparities and there is a cost associated with that. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated the employees had to have had some increases or they would not still be here. City Manager Jennifer Fadden replied there have not been any merit increases since 2009. She explained some have promoted and the police compression was addressed. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding the employees who have left the organization, where did they go? City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained some had retired and went to work in other cities, and some employees left the City in other circumstances, besides retirement. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained when a job is available; the current minimum to the current midpoint is posted for the range. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated it is their decision to respond to the advertisement. Councilmember Mogged questioned staff regarding if the pay range is limiting the quality and type of applicant applying for the job. Public Works Director Bob Lowry replied yes. Councilmember Hall stated healthcare is not an issue; retirement is not an issue, so the only thing left is working environment and higher pay. He added we still can take this a little bit at a time. Mayor Kelly stated City Council will need to decide if the band method is acceptable but know there are costs associated with that implementation. Councilmember Hart stated being good with looking further at the band method, and coming up with something for this year’s budget. City of Colleyville Page 8 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Councilmember Mogged stated he would like to bring the employees into the system with the $285,000, and then give additional money to be distributed for performance. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated an average of a one percent increase of payroll is approximately $130,000. She stated one percent does not implement a merit increase. Councilmember Short stated he likes the band system and being good with the $260,000 to allow management to address the compression issue. Councilmember Wollin stated agreeing to what Director Reyes stated. Councilmember Hall stated agreeing to the band system, but not to the whole implementation at once. He added he agrees that some money should be given to management for them to be creative with. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated he likes Alternative 4, since it is a percentage of the buy in; it is a percentage of an increase; it does not give a runaway increase on any one person and it does give staff direction and future hires a direction. He stated it should help with retention and recruitment. He stated his second choice would be Alternative 5. Mayor Kelly stated Councilmembers Wollin, Hall, and Short are good with the compensation system, but not with slotting the employee from the current location into the new band. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated he does not want to be partial on this. He stated if that is what is going to happen, $260,000 does not accomplish what needs to take place. He added they are either buying into the structure or they are not. Councilmember Hart stated everyone likes the band system. Mayor Kelly stated the broader bands are good, but with that implementation of the system comes with a cost. Councilmember Hall stated rather than advocating Alternative 4, the $381,404 should just be given to the City Manager for her to allocate as appropriate and move into the new system. Mayor Kelly stated a three percent increase can be done for this next fiscal year and then City Council can discuss this issue further next year. Councilmember Hart concurred. City of Colleyville Page 9 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Councilmember Mogged questioned staff regarding the cost for a three percent increase across the board. City Manager Jennifer Fadden replied $360,000 and that adding three percent to payroll will have to work within the existing system. Councilmember Short questioned staff regarding why would it have to be in the existing system. City Manager Jennifer Fadden replied the current performance management system is out-dated as well, and we are therefore in the process of modifying it. She added there will be employees who will not get the three percent because their performance evaluation does not merit it. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated that speaks to the whole situation. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained she feels that everyone should be brought into the new system and that small increases can be made appropriately across the employees. Councilmember Hall concurred, especially since this study has already been paid for. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated the guidance is not perfect, but we cannot ignore it and therefore Alternative 4 is an approach to making this work. Councilmember Hall stated he is in favor of moving toward this system, just not all at once. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated Alternative 4 gives management a decision. Councilmember Short stated it will take away management decision since it will give them specific instructions on how to implement it. Councilmember Short stated being concerned that the $381,404 is too low to address the compression issues. City Manager Jennifer Fadden and Director Reyes stated we can implement with the same philosophy just with a different strategy. Councilmember Hall stated it was said that the City could afford to implement this system at the cost of $662,000. Councilmember Wollin stated she could not agree to that amount. Councilmember Wollin stated the one percent could be given to the other employees. Councilmember Hall questioned staff regarding if that will work. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated yes and explained staff will make it work. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated having concerns for the lower end workers. Mayor Kelly stated he would be in favor of something above the one percent, like two or three percent. City of Colleyville Page 10 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated by implementing the system and moving everyone to the minimum range with the cost of $285,000, there will still be some employees who receive a double digit increase. She stated the City Council may consider capping that amount and recognize it will take two years to bring those employees to the new minimum that will free up additional dollars to then spread out through merit for the rest of the employees. She stated not knowing what that number is today but that staff could make it work within the budget. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated the 90 percent is not as big as a jump as the 100 percent, which is one of the alternatives presented this evening. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated to Councilmembers Short, Hall, Mogged, and Wollin’s concerns, that still places everybody in their relative position in the range today. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated the 90 percent is a start and will leave some merit room. He stated concurring with Councilmember Short’s concern. Mayor Kelly stated there is a group that does not want to implement moving into the new range within their existing range. Councilmember Wollin stated she would have more buy-in with using the band system for two or three years, to know for sure it accomplishes what is needed. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated City Council knew there was an issue with compensation therefore the consultant was hired to complete this study. He added the study indicates there is a problem and a solution to solve it. Councilmember Hall stated a consensus seems to be to allocate the $285,000; therefore an amount needs to be decided regarding how to take care of the rest. Councilmember Wollin stated $415,000 allows for moving the employees into the new system with a cost of $285,000, and a one percent increase to the rest, not including the employees who have been moved up to the minimum. Councilmember Short stated by capping the increase to no more than 10 percent allows more than a one percent merit. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated he feels that will compound the problem. Councilmember Mogged stated new recruits can be hired where they should be within the new band system. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated he feels like new hires will then be making more than tenured employees doing the same work. City of Colleyville Page 11 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated moving everyone to the new minimum of the range does create some compression, however, where multiple incumbents are in one position, a merit piece will then help alleviate some of that, because not every employee is the exact same regarding a performing employee, with different amounts of merit given. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding why the midpoint was recommended in the beginning. City Manager Jennifer Fadden replied there are people who have earned where they are in their range today. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated the merit can help to put them in their proper position. He questioned staff regarding why that was not proposed in the beginning. Director Reyes stated it was not one of the alternatives given in the beginning, but it was proposed for this evening. City Manager Jennifer Fadden explained there are people in their relative position in range today because over time, they have illustrated strong performance and have earned, likely prior to 2009, but they have earned merit increases through their tenure with Colleyville. She stated, however, there has not been a good system in place, nor have merit increases been funded to keep up with it. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated it makes more sense to move forward with the merit system. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated if the range is moving significantly, you may have someone new receiving more than a tenured employee. Councilmember Wollin stated this does not have to be done all this year; it can take time to accomplish this. Mayor Kelly stated if the plan is accepted, as submitted, can some of those be addressed with a performance element. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated it would be somewhat of a dual test, the only way to move up would be through performance. Director Reyes stated instead of it being automatic, it would be based on performance. Mayor Kelly concurred. Mayor Kelly questioned staff regarding if anyone will be left below the minimum. Director Reyes replied there would be some left below the minimum unless it is fully implemented because of the caps. Mayor Kelly questioned staff regarding if eventually those employees will catch up. Director Reyes replied yes. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated being concerned with taking out the free market. He stated he does not want to pay more than he needs to pay using tax payers dollars. City of Colleyville Page 12 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Mayor Kelly recapped the discussion with City Council seems to agree to accept the compensation philosophy; employees will not have equal placement within the new band system; move those employees who fall below the new minimum bumped to the new minimum; and allocate dollars this year to move employees as a mass up to midpoint. Councilmember Short added to have a 10 percent cap. Councilmember Wollin added it may take two or three years for everyone to reach the minimum. Mayor Kelly stated eventually everyone will get there but, acceptance can be made that City Council will adopt something to show that we are committed. Councilmember Mogged concurred. Mayor Kelly stated an amount can be allocated for the 2015 budget. Councilmember Hall stated an amount needs to be given to the City Manager so that it can be worked into the budget. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor questioned staff regarding the percentage for the full implementation. Director Reyes stated it would be 4.5 percent to payroll. Councilmember Mogged stated an alternative would be to use the anniversary date so that in reality, it may be the following year before implementation. Mayor Kelly questioned staff regarding how merit would be implemented. City Manager Jennifer Fadden replied as of today, merit would be done on the anniversary date. Councilmember Hall stated then we are looking at the Alternative 4. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated that had been struck. Councilmember Wollin stated she is comfortable with the $415,000 amount since it is around the three percent and she can justify it. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated it is not a pure three percent. Councilmember Wollin stated it is an average. Councilmember Hall stated it would be the difference between $415,000 and $285,000. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated once the system is active, there may be future budget issues to be addressed. City of Colleyville Page 13 City Council Worksession Minutes - DRAFT July 30, 2013 Mayor Kelly questioned City Council regarding the amount. Councilmember Wollin replied the amount is $415,000. Mayor Pro Tem Taylor stated he would like to see what the City Manager can do with that amount. Mayor Kelly stated the maximum increase, to get into the new band system, is to be set at 10 percent. All others may see an increase; however it will be based on performance. Councilmember Mogged stated he would like to see the implications to the 2015 budget. City Manager Jennifer Fadden stated staff will show what the full implementation will look like for the 2015 budget. 3. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the City Council, Mayor Kelly adjourned the worksession at 9:28 p.m. APPROVED BY A VOTE OF 7 AYES, 0 NAYS, AND 0 ABSTENTIONS ON THIS THE 20TH DAY OF AUGUST 2013. Minutes taken and prepared by: Amy Shelley City Secretary City of Colleyville Page 14