5/1/19 Finance Committee Meeting

City of Tybee Finance Committee Notes May 1st , 2019 In attendance: Monty Parks, John Branigin, Alice Jonsson, Shawn Gillen, Angela Hudson, Chief Bryson, Chief Patterson, William Moseley John Branigin is chairing meeting. Meeting called to order at 4:01. Monty – Motion to approve Draft Minutes from March 6th. Motion approved. New Business- Gillen – Shared spreadsheet with information about city employees’ salaries. Spoke about potential approaches to creating public safety salary incentives for certifications and for education. Explained what his team came up with in terms of potentially layering a type of step system on top of our current system. About every five years there is a decision making point for employees. We need to look at how we can get people to that point and then keep them- longevity. Went over potential bonuses and pay increases. Group asked Shawn questions. Monty Parks – we had a very thorough salary study done. Group discussed issues surrounding other departments attracting our public safety employees. John Branigin – two categories in front of group – public safety employees but also need to take a broader look at our structure for all of our city employees. Gillen – Pay competitiveness is what we were looking at. TIFD and TIPD contributed a lot of information we used. John Branigin - asked about triggers that would generate a promotion. Bryson- right now we have to promote to get pay increases, which creates some issues. Gillen - bonuses are one layer, certifications another. Explained how percentage increases could occur with certifications. Could be used city-wide. Monty Parks- what do we need to do immediately to keep our officers and firefighters? Gillen – Third level is education incentive. Explained how those levels could work. If you climb the levels, you could get a bump in pay or enter a different lane for salaries. We need funding and implementation structures. John Branigin – we need to create a group that looks at salary structures for all city employees. Volunteered to lead that effort. Study Group will come up with suggestions. Discussion about structure of that work group and how to create it with flexibility and openness. Bryson – would prefer we not need to do promotions in order to get pay increases. Also, cost-of-living increases negate promotion raises sometimes. Incentives need to be across the board, including dispatch. Hudson – we need more consistency with regards to how we bump up salaries and where we start people who are hired. John Branigin – Task: Jason P, Bob, Shawn, Angela – make a recommendation for increasing pay ranges for non- competitive public safety positions to the Council. Bring rec. before next Council meeting. Motion passed. Monty Parks - Move we create a group with Shawn, Monty, and JB for comprehensive review of City of Tybee compensation methodology. Motion passed. Monty Parks - Task – need folder pulled together of all current ordinances and policies on how we pay employees. Also look at compensation packages. For both working groups. Gillen – Janice can get it done. Bryson – our starting pay is not very competitive compared to neighboring departments and some other departments across the region. Dispatch is important to take care of, too. John Branigin – We will look at wage compression, too. Motion to adjourn – 5:05 PM