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HomeMy WebLinkAbout605 - MINUTES - City Commission MINUTES OF WORKSHOP MEETING DANIA BEACH CITY COMMISSION COMPENSATION PLAN TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2004 - 4:30 P.M. 1. Call to Order Mayor McElyea called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call Present: Mayor: C.K. McElyea Vice Mayor: Bob Mikes Commissioners: Bob Anton Robert Chunn Pat Flury City Attorney: Tom Ansbro City Manager: Ivan Pato Deputy City Clerk: Miriam Nasser 3. Discussion of Compensation Plan/ Pay for Performance Program. (Mary McDonald, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management) City Manager Pato read sections of a letter from the Office of Personnel Management. He announced that a pay system was needed that reflected the realities of the modern work force where performance and results were emphasized and rewarded. Mary McDonald, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management, made a Power Point presentation outlining the proposed plan for compensation strategies. She indicated that the Pay for Performance Program began as a means to attract qualified applicants and reward workers already on staff. She explained the current system has an inflexible step plan that provided automatic five percent increases each year through years six or seven. After that, the worker moved into a longevity program. She explained there were entitlement programs that provided for annual longevity bonuses where an employee received 1.5%-10% of their salary for "time served," which began after 6 years of service. She spoke of the panel of people who helped put the plan together and indicated that they asked for help from each department and all employees. She pointed to and thanked William (Spence) Johnson, Kathy VanNoorden, Theresa Weech, Willis Washington, Miriam Nasser, and Nicki Satterfield. She stated the current plan did not distinguish between high performers and those who are not. She stated that the current Minutes of Workshop Meeting 1 Dania Beach City Commission Compensation Plan Tuesday,July 20,2004—4:30 p.m. plan was predictable and had no incentive for employees. She expressed that the current ® plan was a traditional model that evolved from a lack of trust in management's ability to administer a merit based pay plan. She explained that the current plan was common at one time, but not any more. She stated they hoped to implement a performance based compensation system where employees gained increases based on performance. She stated that employees who performed extremely well would receive higher increases than those who performed at lower levels. She assured the Commission that the budget would not be changed; instead, the salary budget would be allocated more effectively. She stated they were trying to motivate employees to be their best. She illustrated the keys to an effective merit program were a fair, objective performance evaluation system; skilled personnel who would see advancement opportunities; lowered costs that linked salary expenses with performance results; and funds reallocated more effectively. She indicated that they want to abolish the current step plan and establish a pay range with no pre- defined steps. She also stated that the mid-point within the pay range was the target range for employees who had full command of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the job. She clarified that increases were based on a performance matrix which is a simple point system used to determine salary increases. She stated the points were totaled from performance evaluations. She explained that the range was from zero to five percent for performance raises and once an employee reached the "Commendable" status, they were eligible for a 5% increase, in addition to a bonus. She stated that the bonuses ranged from three to seven percent of salary. Commissioner Flury asked if the bonus in the "Excellent" category was a potentially • larger bonus than the bonus in the "Commendable" category. Director McDonald indicated that the "Commendable" category ranged from three to five percent of base pay and the "Excellent" category ranged from five to seven percent. She stated that the chance of earning an "Excellent" rating in the top seven percent of the bonus was slim. She stated that they were also considering target awards, which is a percent of the base pay based on goal achievement. She also explained that group incentives were another option where an entire department receives a reward for department goal achievement. She stated that cash sharing was still another option whereby if an employee presented an option that saved the City money, the employee could then share in the budget savings. She indicated the City had a similar program in place some years ago. She recommended implementing pay ranges, a combination of step and merit plans, a performance matrix, and some incentive programs. She stated they want to allocate funds more effectively and identify departmental budgets for increases. She invited the Commission and employees in attendance to ask any questions, with Mayor McElyea's consent. Commissioner Anton asked what measures were being taken not to convert the plan into a"popularity contest." Director McDonald stated the answer to that laid in the actual design of the performance evaluation form. She indicated they educated supervisors, directors, and managers to ® Minutes of Workshop Meeting 2 Dania Beach City Commission Compensation Plan Tuesday, July 20,2004—4:30 p.m. approach the performance review assuming a satisfactory performance in everybody. ® She further explained that if anyone was graded above or below satisfactory, objective statements supporting the decision must be made. She then asked William (Spence) Johnson, Chief Code Enforcement Officer, to speak. William (Spence) Johnson, Chief Code Enforcement Officer, explained that as Supervisor of the Code Enforcement Division he once gave an employee an evaluation and after giving it to Ms. McDonald, Director of Human Resources, she sent it back to him to reconsider and discuss with the employee. Eventually, the evaluation changed because there were details he forgot to include; therefore, the employee earned a better score. He reiterated Director McDonald's point of the need for a specific justification to support performance evaluations. Commissioner Anton asked how they were going to derive the pay ranges. Director McDonald stated the market value was determined on a survey of 18 surrounding municipalities. She also indicated the work environments were looked at and they also checked with the Florida League of Cities, who did an annual survey of salaries. She explained that the current ranges were very competitive and reflective of what was happening in the market. She also stated they had the flexibility with the range to target it to an individual applicant or candidate. Commissioner Chunn asked if there was a safeguard for employees. ® Director McDonald stated that when an evaluation reaches the Supervisor and the Human Resources Director, employees should read it before signing it and then request reconsideration of the evaluation, if necessary. She stated that everyone has input into the process and that everything is documented on both sides from the Supervisor, Manager, and Director and employee. Vice-Mayor Mikes asked if the program was modeled after other cities. Director McDonald indicated the modeling concept is what 14 other cities were doing. She stated the actual form was designed by consultants who had enough exposure to what goes on in cities to develop an evaluation tool that is defensible. Vice-Mayor Mikes raised the issue that he did not want to be in a situation where every time a decision was to be made on an employee's evaluation, the City Attorney had to be involved for feedback. Commissioner Flury asked if the Salary Survey of the Florida League of Cities broke things down geographically, as in North Florida and South Florida. Director McDonald indicated that they did break it down regionally. Minutes of Workshop Meeting 3 Dania Beach City Commission Compensation Plan Tuesday,July 20,2004—4:30 p.m. Commissioner Flury stated that it was good to have a lot of surveys. She stated that the • surveys should focus on the South Florida regional area. Director McDonald agreed with Commissioner Flury and indicated that there were also county-wide surveys. Commissioner Flury restated Ms. McDonald's statement that the salary range established and based on the surveys would be adjusted on an annual basis. She explained that there were very few organizations that were not using a Pay for Performance Program. She stated that the key to success was to have trained managers. She indicated this was a good procedure and the employee should always have the opportunity for input. Commissioner Flury then referred to the request for approval of future incentive programs. She stated that she thought those programs should be approved on a program by program basis. Mayor McElyea also agreed with the Pay for Performance Program. He stated that it should start with Management, and that there had to be a model. He expressed that communication was important. Director McDonald referred to the third page of the Performance Evaluation Form. She stated that they also incorporated a goals section. Commissioner Chunn indicated that training managers was important. He referred back • to Ms. McDonald's comment in regards to no one reaching the point of being excellent. He indicated he was concerned that some goals may be so out of reach that it would become frustrating. Director McDonald stated some employees did reach a level of excellence in certain areas. Vice-Mayor Mikes stated it would be appropriate to address the fact that the Commission represented residents and businesses of the City. He stated they can only provide employees what they had available in current and future resources. He explained that it was very important to have a City Commission, and employees, working responsibly to maintain the resource base of the City. He indicated they had to keep an eye on what the City was doing to protect the future resource base. He further spoke about the beautiful projects that had come through. He then expressed that the County could put the future of the City in a very difficult position because of airport expansion. City Attorney Ansbro indicated that he researched the current Pay Plan back to 1989 and could not find out how it currently existed. He recommended that in the future, the Pay Plan should be done by Ordinance to be adopted and signed by the Union. An unidentified (new) employee with the Public Services Department spoke in favor of the Pay for Performance Plan. He indicated that he earned good evaluations at his Minutes of Workshop Meeting 4 Dania Beach City Commission Compensation Plan Tuesday,July 20,2004—4:30 p.m. previous job in Coral Springs. He explained that other fellow employees asked him for assurances with the Performance Plan. He then asked if the plan was approved, and an employee received a "satisfactory" evaluation (3-5%), would the money always be available. Director McDonald indicated that there was no guarantee. She stated that pay increases were part of the budget and she anticipated that would remain. She restated that it was not about eliminating funds; instead, it was a matter of allocating money. City Manager Pato commented on the budget for salary increase by stating that the money would be there when raises were due. William (Spence) Johnson stated he supported the Pay for Performance Program on a personal level and as a Supervisor. He stated, as a Supervisor, he saw the Program benefiting the City and indicated that his department had lost three good secretaries in the last two years because of low salaries. He explained that with the new program in place, employees' salaries would be brought up to market value and the City would be able to attract good employees. City Manager Pato stated that the City would negotiate with the Union. He presented his position to City Attorney Ansbro stating that by having the Commission approve the Plan, and then going to the Union with the Plan, was the way to do it. He asked City Attorney Ansbro if there was another way. He stated that if they could not negotiate the • Plan, it would sit as an ordinance that was not effective until it was part of a Union agreement. He stated that nothing would go into effect until the Collective Bargaining Agreements were finished and contracts were signed. City Manager Pato looked for a consensus at this time. City Attorney Ansbro stated he would bring the Ordinance forward for Commission approval. Mayor McElyea asked what would happen if the plan did not work and wanted to know how to back out of the plan. Director McDonald stated they would have to reassess the issues and specified that she was extremely confident in the ability of the program to work and indicated that she had not seen it fail anywhere. Vice-Mayor Mikes stated they should legally model the program the way other cities had implemented it. He indicated that he wanted to have it done correctly. City Manager Pato thanked all of the employees who attended the meeting. • Minutes of Workshop Meeting 5 Dania Beach City Commission Compensation Plan Tuesday,July 20,2004—4:30 p.m. 4. Adjournment Mayor McElyea adjourned the meeting at 5:17 p.m. CITY OF DANIA BEACH -ATTEST: K. CEL A _ - MAYOR-COMMISSIONER LOUISE STILSON CITY CLERK Respectfully submitted by Jill Fiorentino • APPROVED: August 24, 2004 • Minutes of Workshop Meeting 6 Dania Beach City Commission Compensation Plan Tuesday,July 20,2004—4:30 p.m.