Appointed Committees

December 13, 2022 Ad Hoc Meeting - Employee Benefits and Wage Review Ad Hoc Committee Ad Hoc Meeting – Employee Benefits and Wage Review – December 13, 2022 AT 12:00 P.M. Members Present: Mark Jantzer, Stephan Podrygula, Scott Burlingame, Harold Stewart, Lisa Jundt, Derek Hackett, Margie Zietz, Travis Seifert, Terri Philion, Laurie Davis, Kevin Ternes Members Absent: Dallas Varty Also Present: Mikayla McWilliams (City Clerk) The meeting was called to order by Chairman Mark Jantzer at 12:04 pm. Mayor Ross addressed the committee. Alderman Jantzer asked the members to give introductions. Then he discussed the purpose of the committee and the work he would like to see the committee do. Alderman Jantzer would like to see more flexibility, more value, and to use our resources more effectively. He would like to set a timeline for completion at the end of the 1st quarter to allow for the recommendations to be a part of the budget process. The committee will meet a couple times a month January – March of 2023 with some meetings at 12:00 pm and some at 4:30 pm for about an hour with meeting possibly be on Tuesdays. A starting point would be for the committee to understand the benefits the current employees have. Lisa Jundt provided the committee with the benefit section of the employee handbook. The committee will begin discussion on the benefits first and move onto the wage review afterwards. Travis Seifert, a committee member for this Ad Hoc along with a committee member for the Employee Personnel Policy Committee, discussed the recommendations given would be highlighted in yellow throughout the document. Discussion began on updating the charts for the Health Insurance section of the benefits. The committee then moved onto the Employee Personnel Policy Committee recommendations on holiday pay verse vacation add to, what holidays are paid, the employee personal day, holiday overtime, and the possibility of adding the day after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday. Lisa Jundt mentioned with overtime the City of Minot uses the minimum standard of requirements. Holiday pay verse vacation add to was discussed on a Department Head level because of the difficulty to schedule if employees accrue too much vacation time. Travis also mentioned that the cap of 300 hours to roll over each year was discussed on an employee level and is thought to possibly punish the people who don’t take enough time off. Lisa replied to the issue as it being too hard to budget and 300 hours is one of the top ranges in the state for roll over time. Harold Stewart discussed that the most successful process he has seen for holiday pay is that different job classes receive different accrual rates to compensate for holidays. It allows flexibility for the employee to take the holiday or vacation time. Holiday overtime the city uses the FSLA requirements of hours worked not hours paid. Margie mentioned the difficulty is partially with no consistency with the departments. Harold also stated he has seen holiday pay for the day after Thanksgiving and personal days matched to a shift so it could be 8, 12, 16, or 24 hours depending on the job and shift work for the position. The committee then moved onto the topic of PTO (Paid Time Off). Harold mentioned in a past city he has worked in they moved from sick/vacation pay to a PTO along with short/long term policies. Vacation is an earned benefit and sick leave is not a required benefit, which is why it has no cash value. The change to PTO would allow for employee to not have such a strong back up in the sick leave area. The previous city allowed for 120 hours of carry over, which made it easier to manage financially. The city did a one time buy down for the employee leave once a year usually in December. The leave time had to be managed by the employee, there was no use or lose system, and accrual rates did not change. Alderman Burlingame asked if the previous city mandated leave/vacations and Harold mentioned management had the right to mandate leave for an employee if they saw fit. Page 1 of 2 Margie discussed the challenges she saw with changing over to a PTO system as a current employee. Maternity leave was discussed with the PTO system allowing the leave to be partially paid out using short term disability. The City of Minot employees accrue sick leave and the employee committee discussed capping it and paying out a portion of it. Kevin Ternes inquired if there were studies about what employers could do to make it so sick leave wasn’t abused. If the city paid out a portion of it, would that eliminate possible abuse of the sick leave policy. Margie mentioned with sick leave being is a privilege to have and an extra benefit so would a payout be fair. Expanded sick leave was the next item discussed. The employee committee recommendations were to add time to the current policy that only allows for 40 hours a year be used for expanded sick leave. Harold stated this is a unique policy and not policy he has seen in other communities. Bereavement leave was discussed if it should be paid out separate from sick or vacation pay and how would you decide a cap on that pay. Information will be provided on the upcoming agenda for the annual pay plan for the city employees. It was mentioned that Brown & Brown the consultants for the City of Minot would be helpful to give a health insurance foundation. The next meeting will be Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at 4:30 pm. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:03 pm. Page 2 of 2