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2019-07-24 Salary Commission MinutesSALARY COMMISSION Meeting Minutes SPECIALLY CALLED MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING Wednesday, July 24, 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 Marilynne Beard, Consultant, MMB Consulting Excused: Carl Zapora Commissioner Jeff Hodson, Commissioner CALL TO ORDER Chair Grant called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Grant asked the Commissioners if they had any changes to the agenda. Noting none, the agenda was approved as submitted. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Grant asked the Commissioners if there were any changes to the Meeting Minutes of the July 17, 2019 meeting. Commissioner Hodson had submitted edits via email. Additional minor corrections were made. Commissioner Dubno moved to approve the minutes as amended. Commissioner Hall seconded the motion. Motion was approved unanimously. PUBLIC HEARING Chair Grant opened the Public Hearing. He noted that there were no members of the public present. Commissioner Hall made a motion to close the Public hearing. Commissioner Dubno seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously and Chair Grant closed the Public Hearing. DISCUSSION ITEMS Member Update Ms. Beard noted that she had spoken to Commissioner Zapora regarding meeting dates. He has had a series of conflicts with the scheduled meetings and will be unable to attend two of scheduled meetings coming up. He noted that he ELW 7/2/2019 has reviewed all of the minutes and materials provided and would appreciate a meeting with Chair Grant regarding the Commission's work prior to the next meeting on August 7. Chair Grant will contact Commissioner Zapora and schedule a meeting with him. Review and Update of Additional Data Received since Last Meeting • Wage and Benefit Comparable Cities -- Ms. Beard noted that the salary for the Lynnwood Mayor had been added. Comparable Cities FTE's and Population — Ms. Beard added all of the cities surveyed for the wage and benefit table and created two tables, one with Strong Mayor cities and one with Council/Manager cities. Updated Cost of Living Adjustments — Data for 2018 and 2019 is now shown on the printed version of the table. Commissioner Hall asked for wage adjustments other than Cost of Living in 2018 and 2019. He would also like clarification about which employee groups have a step system in their wage schedule. Ms. Beard will work request this information from Human Resources. Commission Topics of Interest or Concerns Survey Questions — Chair Grant distributed a draft of survey questions for the City Council (Attached). Two topics were addressed including the use of accountability measures for determining compensation and differential compensation for the Council President. He recommended that any accountability measure should be objective, consistent for all Councilmembers and measureable. Meeting attendance was discussed as a possible measure of accountability. Councilmembers are responsible for attending City Council meetings and,for assigned Council Committee and Regional Committee meetings. The Commission discussed which of those meetings were currently tracked and how they could be tracked Commissioner Hall noted that it may be difficult to track attendance at meetings held outside of Edmonds (regional meetings). The Commission then discussed whether compensation tied to meeting attendance should be additive or deductive (e.g. should Council received additional compensation for attending all assigned meetings or have compensation deducted for not attending). If there is a reduction in current compensation for not attending assigned meetings, it would need to be implemented at the beginning of each Councilmember's next term per the Salary Commission enabling ordinance. The Commission also discussed whether Council compensation adjustments should reflect adjustments approved by the Council for all employee groups. Chair Grant suggested a more succinct Council survey focusing on the idea of accountability, using meeting attendance as a measure and asking about any other measures the Council may want the Commission to consider. The survey will also address compensation for the Council President. Commissioner Dubno suggested that the community survey include the same questions as the Council survey. The Commission agreed with that approach. Based on the Commission's discussion, Ms. Beard will draft survey questions using Chair Grant's handout for Council survey questions as a starting point for both the Council survey and community survey. The Commission asked for a complete list of all regional Committees Councilmember may be assigned to. Survey Distribution — Ms. Beard noted that she had an opportunity to speak with the City's Community Relations staff about possible groups to send a survey link to. Staff had suggested that the Commission email the survey link to all City Board and Commission members and add a link to the City's Facebook page. The Edmonds Downtown Merchants Association was mentioned as well as Business Improvement District members. Ms. Beard will provide a complete list of all community groups to survey for the next meeting and work with staff to obtain contact information. Future Commission Meeting Schedule • Wednesday, August 7, 2019, 7:00 pm — Commission Meeting • Wednesday, August 14, 2019, 7.00 pm — Commission Meeting • Wednesday, August 21, 2019 7.00 pm — Commission Meeting and Public Hearing • Wednesday, September 11, 2019 7:00 pm — Commission Meeting 101t9:I4 V There were no other items for discussion. Chair Grant adjourned the meeting at 8:51 p.m. ATTACHMENTS Draft Survey Questions for Council (provided by Chair Grant) Draft Questions for Consideration to Pose to Councilmembers in regard to the Salary Commission's determining compensation and benefit. The Salary Commissions of present and the past have for the most part used information from multiple communities to determine compensation. Like any position understanding the responsibilities of the work and compensation norms are important. The current Commission is made of the same members as the determinations made in 2017. Therefore, we can say with certainty the objective concluded was to bring the Council's compensation into reasonable par with the medium of those communities. This Commission in reviewing salary has been looking into accountability as a determining factor this period, and perhaps in the future. In our discussions, we noted in one example from the City of Lynnwood their public disclosure of a Councilmember's "job description" and "City Council Member Responsibilities." The Commission realizes as elected members of the community there are few mandatory requirements, and in the end, it is the citizens who determine if a Councilmember is elected. 1. However, as to compensation; do you have an agree or disagree that linking of accountability in determining the amount of salary a Councilmember should make would be acceptable if the determination is unilateral, is not subjective, and could be tracked? (a) Agree (b) Disagree (c) Inappropriate (d) No opinion 2. If you agree, do you think the form of accountability should be determined by how much: (a) Based on committee meeting assignments and attendance on behalf of the City, especially those committees that are outlined on the website that each are assigned to; a. Agree b. Disagree 3. If you agree accountability is relevant and compensation consideration could be a relevant factor for the Salary Commission to include; do you have any suggestions as to relevant accountability that could easily be tracked and is not subjective other than those outlined above? 4. Do you have an opinion as to any other factors a Salary Commission should consider in determining compensation and benefits, other than the present multiple community comparison? 5. We recognize the Council President has additional responsibilities and spends additional time in the performance of their work. The current compensation is an additional $200 a month. Is this amount? (a) Commensurate with the work responsibilities (b) Not commensurate with the work responsibilities, if so? a. Too little b. Too much