5.9.A. SR 01-09-2006
Item # S.9.A.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Personnel Committee
Dave Potvin Joan Schmidt
Bruce West Lauren Wipper
Lori Johnson
DATE: January 9,2006
SUBJECT: Personnel Committee Pay Plan Structure Discussion
In November 2004, the City Council approved a new organizational structure. The Personnel
Committee was charged with the task of placing all of the new division head positions and new
department head positions into the existing pay plan. The city's current pay plan was originally
developed in 1995 and was revised slightly in 1999 to deal with "internal and external" imbalances.
The Personnel Committee has been diligently working on this task, but has found it challenging to
fit these new positions into the current pay plan because of its structure.
When the pay plan was approved in 1995, the city had 43 employees and 35 different positions,
excluding those covered by the union. There are currently 96 employees and 70 positions (excluding
union employees) that are being fit into this same pay plan. This has caused a considerable challenge
for the Personnel Committee as we struggle to balance the internal structure for all of these new and
realigned positions.
The Personnel Committee would like to discuss with the Council the option of reviewing and
updating the structure of the pay plan for the purpose of regaining and maintaining internal balance.
Last year, the City Council approved increases in the pay plan to address the external issue with the
pay plan and brought the pay plan closer in line with other comparable cities. The intent of
reviewing and updating the pay plan now is to restructure the pay plan without changing the top pay
rates in the pay plan. This is an internal issue of balance and relationships of positions to each other,
not an issue of pay compared to external factors. However, anytime the internal structure is
changed we know that pay could change for some employees, some up and some down. The
Personnel Committee knows that this changing the pay plan is a very challenging and sensitive
project to undertake. However, as I stated earlier, the Committee is struggling with fitting in the new
division head and new department head positions into this pay plan; mainly because when the pay
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plan was developed the organizational structure was very flat and did not allow for an additional
layer of management positions that we currently have.
Representatives of the Personnel Committee will be at the meeting on Monday to discuss ideas with
the Council and to get direction from the Council on whether or not the Council agrees that the
Personnel Committee should proceed with developing options to update the pay plan.
Action Requested
The Council is asked to provide input to the Personnel Committee on updating the structure of the
pay plan.
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