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2014-03-26 Salary Commission MinutesCITIZENS COMMISSION ON COMPENSATION OF ELECTED OFFICIALS Meeting Minutes March 26, 2014 5:30 p.m. Public Safety Training Room (Police Department) 250 Fifth Avenue, Edmonds PRESENT Commissioners Staff: Public: CALL TO ORDER Brent Hunter Co -Chair Dilys Rosales Co -Chair Mike Hathaway Evelyn Wellington Norma Middleton Mary Ann Hardie, HR Manager Co -Chair Dilys Rosales called the meeting to order at 5:35 pm. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Commissioner Brent Hunter made a motion to approve the Agenda for the March 26, 2014 meeting. Co -Chair Hathaway seconded the motion. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF THE MEETING MINUTES Commissioner Norma Middleton requested that HR Manager Mary Ann Hardie make a revision to the March 20, 2014 meeting minutes (last paragraph on page 3) to reflect that a previous employer, not a current employer, was able to hosting a training class at a minimal cost. Co -Chair Mike Hathaway additionally requested that the "Open Public Hearing" section be redacted from the minutes (as the March 20, 2014 meeting was not an open public hearing). Commissioner Hunter made a motion to approve the March 20, 2014 meeting minutes with the noted changes by Commissioner Middleton and Co - Chair Hathaway. Co -Chair Rosales seconded the motion. The motion carried. Ms. Hardie stated that she would bring a revised copy of the March 20, 2014 meeting minutes to the next Commission meeting. DISCUSSION OF FEEDBACK FROM INTERVIEWS WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS There was some discussion that followed by the Commission about the feedback received to date from the elected officials that they had talked to since the last meeting. Some of the concerns that were mentioned by the Commission (which included feedback) were as follows: 1. The net amount (of the pay check) which was impacted by benefits costs (cost for dependent and/or spouse coverage. 2. PERS eligibility requirements for elected officials. 3. The loss of "meeting pay" which was rolled in to their entire pay in a cafeteria style compensation plan. (since not all meetings were the same location or distance away or were of the same length). Pagc 1 4. The unknown impact of health insurance legislation up to 2018 and should the Commission encourage Council members to look at the Affordable Care Act. 5. Interest in the training/professional development benefit or program. There was some discussion that followed about whether or not the questions that were agreed upon by the majority of the Commission members at the last meetings were sufficient questions. Commissioner Evelyn Wellington stated that, for the record, she did not agree with the questions that were discussed and agreed upon by the majority of the Commission during the March 20, 2014 meeting. Commissioner Wellington further stated that the questions did not discern the greatest insight possible and that she would like to ask additional questions of the elected officials she was interviewing. There was further discussion that followed by the Commission regarding the questions that were agreed upon to be used at the first meeting. Ms. Hardie inquired of the Commission as to whether or not they felt that additional questions needed to be asked. Co -Chair Hathaway stated that he did not have an opinion yet as to whether or not additional questions may need to be asked since he had not been able to contact his assigned elected officials. Additionally, since he is new to this process, he would like have a chance to ask the questions the Commission agreed upon at the previous meeting. Co -Chair Rosales inquired of Commissioner Wellington as to what the additional questions were that Commissioner Wellington had and if she could share those with the Commission. Commissioner Wellington then stated that she did not have any additional questions prepared, but that she wanted to ask additional questions that addressed the questions asked by Council (from Commission presentation to Council in May 2012). There was concern expressed about this since it was unclear as to what specific questions would be asked that they would not be privy or had agreed upon. Co -Chair Rosales stated that Commissioner Wellington could certainly ask additional questions, but that it would have to be clear that it was not on behalf of the Commission. After further discussion, in order to continue to progress with the meeting, Ms. Hardie clarified that if Commissioner Wellington had additional questions to ask the Council (which she had not prepared nor was able to provide a definitive date as to when they would be ready to share with the Commission) that she would need to communicate and identify to those she interviewed as to the questions she was asking on her own, not on behalf of (or as a representative of) the Commission. DISCUSSION OF POSSIBLE TRAINING INFORMATION The Commission reviewed the AWC training courses for elected officials and the upcoming WCIA training course for Open Government. Ms. Hardie stated that the WCIA training course was free and that it looked like there may be some scholarship opportunities available for the other training courses through AWC. There was some additional discussion that followed by the Commission as to what types of professional development programs would be helpful for Council (including classes on culture and government and perhaps in helping Council understand the relationship of the Director roles in the organization. Commissioner Hunter stated that it would be important to know if the Commission was able to include a training benefit (from the Council budget) as part of the benefits package for consideration with this process. Ms. Hardie stated that she would get confirmation from the City Attorney on this for the Commission by the next meeting. DISCUSSION OF MAYOR/COUNCIL SALARY AND BENEFITS Co -Chair Rosales inquired as to whether or not any of the comparator cities had made any changes [in benefits or salary] since last Commission convened [in 2012]. Co -Chair Rosales further stated that it would helpful, for the sake of comparison, to have the 2012 Mayor/Council/Judge comparator salary and benefits spreadsheets used in 2012. Ms. Hardie stated that she would send an e-mail to the Commission the following morning with the 2012 Mayor/Council/Judge salary and benefits comparison information. Co -Chair Rosales stated that she would like to hear which cities Commissioner Wellington would like to include. Commissioner Wellington stated that she still thought that the comparison cities being used for this process should include some additional information for other cities including: Wenatchee, Lake Page 2 Stevens, Mount Vernon and Pullman. There was further discussion that followed by the Commission about the cities that were used as comparators. Commissioner Middleton pointed out that, at the last meeting, the Commission had voted on the use of the comparator cities and had agreed upon which comparator cities to use. Commissioner Wellington again stated that she did not agree with the cities that the Commission agreed to and that she still did not agree with them. Additionally, Commissioner Wellington inquired as to where in the code or the City Policies, the information about where the agreed upon comparator cities information had come from. Co -Chair Rosales explained to Commissioner Wellington that while she may disagree, that the Commission as a group had agreed upon the comparator cities used and that she may choose to respectfully disagree, but that, in her experience in working with groups, while and individual may disagree, if the majority of the group votes and come to an agreement, it is expected that the individual in disagreement may still disagree but then commit to the decision made by the group. Co -Chair Rosales further explained that Commissioner Wellington was expected to commit to the process, even if she disagreed because this is important to the function and work of the Commission. Commissioner Hunter pointed out that it has been a Council policy (used for employee groups at the City) as to the comparator cities they have used and referred Ms. Wellington to a page from the 2012 Commission presentation which clarified this. GOALS FOR THE NEXT MEETING 1. Review the Mayor and Council salary/benefits information. 2. Discuss further elected official interview feedback from Co-Chair(s) Hathaway and Rosales and Commissioner Wellington. Commissioner Middleton stated that it would also be important to start discussing who (on the Commission) is going to do the presentation to Council and preparation of materials. There was a short discussion that followed by the Commission in which it was discussed that, usually two Commissioners had worked on the presentation in the past, and that all Commissioners went to the presentation (while two presented) to support the Commission. The meeting adjourned at 7:15 pm. Upcoming Critical Dates: April 3 5:30 Public Hearing April 17 5:30 Public Hearing Page 3