2019-07-11 Salary Commission MinutesSALARY COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes
SPECIALLY CALLED MEETING
Thursday, July 11, 2019
7:00 pm
Police Department Training Room
250 5t" Ave. N., Edmonds, WA 98020
Present: Jay Grant, Chair
Ava Dubno, Vice -Chair
Don Hall, Commissioner
Jeff Hodson, Commissioner
Marilynne Beard, Consultant. MMB Consulting
Excused: Carl Zapora Commissioner
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Grant called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Introduction of Commissioners
The Commissioners introduced themselves to the Ms. Beard. Ms. Beard provided
information about her background in municipal government. Ms. Beard asked the
Commissioners to review the contact information listed in their resource binders
for accuracy. There were no changes needed to existing information for those
present. Chair Grant noted that the Commission should use their City of Edmonds
email account to communicate about Commission business. Ms. Beard will
request that staff provide updated access information to the Commissioners and
provide any necessary assistance.
Process Recap
Chair Grant reviewed the Commission's 2017 deliberation and public outreach
process and provided an overview of the requirements of the ordinance
establishing the Salary Commission and the obligations of the Commission. The
Commission must complete their deliberations by September 30 and must hold at
least two public hearings. In 2017, the Commission held seven meetings, including
two public hearings. The Commission allowed the public to speak at the beginning
of each meeting for up to three minutes each. The commission voted unanimously
to continue the public comment period at the beginning of each meeting.
ELW 7/2/2019
Ms. Beard asked the Commission where they would prefer to hold commission
meetings and public hearings. The Commission preferred to hold their meetings
in the City Council Chamber or at City Hall. Ms. Beard will inquire as to the
availability of the Council Chambers and alternate meeting rooms if needed.
Salary & Benefit Information
Chair Grant walked through each tab of the resource binder provided to each
commissioner. The overall contents of the binder were similar to the contents
provided in 2017. Chair Grant noted that he had asked staff to include tax base
information in the summary of comparable wages and benefits for Mayor and
Councilmembers. The purpose of this added data was to provide a context for
understanding cities' relative resources available to support employee and elected
officials' compensation.
Commissioner Hall asked for cost of living adjustments and any other wage
increases provided for all employee groups for 2018 and 2019. In 2017, the
Commission only considered non -represented employee wage adjustments.
Chair Grant noted that the City had received a letter from the Association of
Washington Cities Benefits Trust that confirming that the City could provide
benefits for the City Council on the same basis as unrepresented employees even
though Councilmembers are not full time. AWC would like to be advised if the City
will continue this practice in the future.
The Commission reviewed the summary of Mayor -Council wage and benefits
compared to other municipalities. There were six cities that had not yet responded
to the salary survey inquiry. Chair Grant noted that it was most important to have
wage and benefit data for cities with a Strong Mayor form of government,
especially Lynnwood. He offered to reach out to Lynnwood for their information
and asked staff to follow-up with the City of Wenatchee and Bremerton.
Chair Grant had inquired as to whether the Mayor and Council are subject to new
sick leave requirements that was approved by the State legislature and that
became effective July 1, 2019. The City Attorney advised that elected officials are
not subject to the new sick live rules.
Commissioner Dubno asked that the Commission be provided an electronic
version of the Full Time Equivalents (FTE's) and population for comparable cities.
Ms. Beard will ask staff to provide the file and verify the source of the population
data.
Commission Topics of Interest or Concerns for Future Meetings
After discussion, the Commissioners agreed that the Mr. Grant and Ms. Dubno
should continue as Chair and Vice- Chair. Chair Grant advised the Commission
that this was likely his final term as a Commissioner.
Chair Grant shared that he had made a presentation to the Edmonds Chamber of
Commerce in February regarding the Salary Commission's work and encourage
their members to offer input at the upcoming hearing later this Summer. He would
like to look at other ways to reach out the community. Also, he mentioned he had
sent email correspondence offering to meet with the Alliance Citizen Edmonds
(ACE) members, but did not hear back from them.
Chair Grant asked the Commissioners to share any thoughts about the 2019
Salary Commission's process and other items of interest. He reminded the
Commission that they had included review of the Council President's
compensation.
• Commissioner Dubno noted that this year's process should go smoothly.
The Commission put a great deal of effort into the last process that
provided a good starting point for this year.
• Commissioner Hall asked that the Commissioner consider cost of living
adjustments approved for all employee groups, not just non -represented.
• Commissioner Hodson was interested in finding ways to increase public
engagement. He suggested that the Commission have a list of groups
that they could reach out to and possible provide presentations and collect
survey information.
The Commission continued to discuss outreach methods including press
releases (My Edmonds News and The Beacon), surveys of current
councilmembers and the public, and "meet and greet" opportunities.
Possible outreach techniques discussed include direct outreach to specific
groups such as condo associations and providing a link to the public
survey on Next Door and Facebook. The Commission noted the
importance of getting input from Edmond's residents and businesses and
asked if their some way to screen out non -Edmond responses.
The commission discussed how they should reach out to the City Council
for their input. They agreed to start with the survey questions used in
2017. Chair Grant noted that he was particularly interested in how much
time was devoted to their City Council duties. Chair Grant will reach out to
the Council President regarding how best to engage the City Council in
the Salary Commission's process including possibly interviewing each
Councilmember individually. Chair Grant asked the Commission to review
the survey questions used in 2017 in preparation for the next meeting. The
Commission will discuss the survey questions and process again at the
next meeting.
Commissioner Dubno asked if there was a way to measure the
effectiveness of the Council when considering compensation changes.
She suggested looking at the economic vitality of Edmonds. The
Commission discussed the challenges associated with considering
economic performance given external factors such as a recession.
Chair Grant suggested that the Council's compensation be benchmarked
to a percentage of the Mayor's salary and adjusted for the number of
hours councilmembers spend on City business. Ms. Beard will conduct
research factors other cities use to determine City Council compensation.
The Commissioners asked for an electronic version of the Mayor -Council
comparable cities wage and benefit spreadsheet.
Commission Meeting and Public Hearing Schedule
The Commission discussed the schedule for the balance of the 2017 process.
They would like to target September 17 or September 24 for a presentation to the
Council. Based on that, they agreed that they should have their final decision
ready to forward to the Mayor and City Council by September 11. The following
schedule was agreed to:
• Wednesday, July 17, 2019 — Commission Meeting
• Wednesday, July 24, 2019 — Commission Meeting and Public Hearing
• Wednesday, August 7, 2019 — Commission Meeting
• Wednesday, August 14, 2019 — Commission Meeting
• Wednesday, August 21, 2019 — Commission Meeting and Public Hearing
• Wednesday, September 11, 2019 — Commission Meeting
All meetings will be schedule to begin at 7:00 p.m.
OTHER
There were no other items for discussion.
Chair Grant adjourned the meeting at 9:02 p.m.
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