HomeMy WebLinkAboutPersonnel Committee - Minutes - 2/1/2018Minutes of the
Bayfield County Personnel Committee Meeting
4:30 PM, February 1, 2018
Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Bayfield County Annex, Washburn, WI
Members Present: Brett Rondeau, Dennis Pocernich, Harold Maki, Rachel Coughtry
Members Excused: William Bussey
Others Present: County Administrator Mark Abeles-Allison, Kristine Kavajecz-Assistant, Todd
Kruit-Jail Corporal, Tom Toepfer-Highway Commissioner
Meeting called to order at 4:30pm by Chairman Rondeau
Public Comment: Todd Kruit, Jail Corporal commented that he would like the committee to
consider giving credit to PT employees who become FT. Also want the committee to be aware
that there will be a number of employees reaching step 11 in the near future.
Tom Toepfer-Highway Commissioner: Asked if he would be allowed to comment during regular
session. The committee explained that holiday pay was not on the agenda, so Toepfer provided
comment on that topic and reserved his other comments for regular session. Toepfer reported
that Highway employees worked on December 26 and December 29, which were observed
holidays for other county employees. He provided a handout of the county policy with regard to
holiday pay and asked that the employees be paid overtime for these dates in addition to the
overtime paid for working on the actual holiday.
Approval of Minutes of January 4, 2018: Motion Pocernich, Maki to approve minutes of the
January 4, 2018 Personnel Committee meeting. Motion Carried (4-0 )
Wage schedule three-year market analysis: Abeles-Allison reported that the wage consultant
recommends a wage schedule review at 3-5 year increments unless the county is receiving few
applications for positions, or are having a high number of employees leaving employment for
non-retirement reasons. Because the county is not having extreme difficulty in recruiting or
retaining employees, the recommendation of Abeles-Allison is to conduct a re-evaluation of the
wage schedule in 2020. Estimated cost for the re-evaluation study is $10,000.
Discuss Setting annual indexing of wage schedule: Over the past 3 years, the County Board
has indexed the wage schedule by .5% each year. Each of the 11 steps on the wage schedule
reflect a 2.5% increase. When an employee reaches step 11, they remain at that step, but receive
the annual wage schedule indexing. A report was provided in the committee meeting packet
which reflects that average indexing in Northern Wisconsin is 1.5%, although some employers
do not have a 2.5% step schedule (they may have a 1.5% step system). 1% indexing is currently
equivalent to approximately $80,000. Abeles-Allison referred to a handout which outlined
several options that could be considered with regard to indexing.
Motion Pocernich, Coughtry to dispense with the rules and allow Tom Toepfer to speak. Motion
Carried (4-0).
Toepfer reported that this discussion was initiated as a result of his Patrol Superintendent being
at step 11 and only receiving a .5% wage adjustment, when the CPI was 1.84%. Toepfer
reported that if employees at step 11 do not receive an equivalent of CPI, their spending power is
reduced because their income is not increasing at the rate of the CPI.
2018 wages for those at 11th step for more than one year: There are currently 5 employees
that have been at step 11 for more than 1 year.
Suggestion was made to take the 2018 wage scale and current employee census and do
calculations to determine the cost of the various options outlined in the handout. 1) CPI increase
for those at the 11th step. 2) .5% increase and balance to be given as stipend/bonus.
Reports:
a. Personnel Financial Reports, 2017: General Fund overall was at 98% of budgeted figures
for the year. Total payroll and benefits for the entire county increased about 1% in 2017.
b. Health Insurance Utilization: Utilization average through October, 2017 is currently at
115%. The average in 2016 at that time was 110%.
c. Staffing Update: Review of current and recently filled positions.
Pocernich exited the meeting at 5:34pm.
Coughtry indicated that the minutes of January 4 should be corrected to reflect that HSA is more
flexible than HRA.
The committee did not go into closed session.
Meeting adjourned at 5:36pm
Minutes respectfully submitted by Kristine Kavajecz