A motion to have a hired professional gather information and provide pain point alleviation for the Non-bargaining compensation schedule passed during today's City Council workshop.
A presentation to potentially adjust the Non-bargaining Compensation and Classification was brought to the board. Full implementation has already been included in the current budget for these market and equity adjustments in order to recruit and retain quality employees. The council previously approved a 3.02% Cost of Living Adjustment to the current salary schedule. The council was then presented with a 90% of Taskforce Recommendation Option that could be applied to the current schedule.
13 positions would see a reduction of their maximum pay at the tenth step of the schedule, impacting 21 employees. 14 employees would be placed at a higher step than their current step to avoid a pay reduction. Options and risks were presented to the council. The 90% option would be cheaper and resolve legal pain points, but not recruitment and retention pain points.
Following a discussion, Councilman Rob Pell made a motion that a hired professional will gather more information for comparison based around other discussed Southern Oregon cities Roseburg, Klamath Falls, Medford, Central Point, and Ashland. The motion failed. Councilman Seth Benham moved to go with a third party professional consultant to identify pain points and offer alleviation suggestions, which passed 6-2.
The council deferred a discussion to potentially remove City Manager Aaron Cubic from the Non-bargaining Compensation salary schedule pending the consultant's report. It was announced the council and the Board of County Commissioners will begin meeting on the fourth Tuesday of each month.
At the start of the workshop, an orientation on the Budget Committee outlined the roles and responsibilities of members. There was a description of a budget, its structure, laws pertaining to it, and the preparation process. Meetings for the committee are scheduled for April 28th, 30th, and May 5th.
