City Council Minutes 11-28-1988 SpecialMINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Monday, November 28, 1988 - 6:30 p.m.
Members Present: Arve A. Grimsmo, Bill Fair, Fran Fair, Warren Smith, Dan
Blonigen
Members Absent: None
1.
2.
Call to Order.
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
Consideration of Establishing a Pool for 1989 Salaries and Wages for
Non -Union Personnel.
City Administrator Wolfsteller outlined potential methods by which
Council could establish salaries for 1989. Wolfsteller reviewed the
topic as follows: "For the past four or five years, Council has met in a
special session to create a pool of money based on a percentage of the
current year's total payroll for non-union personnel. That pool of money
has then been available for the Administrator to use in negotiating and
setting salary proposals for the upcoming year with the staff.
Previously, the Administrator's salary has been excluded from the initial
pool and considered separately by the Council. As a reference and
guideline for the Council, predictions and/or forecast of the upcoming
year's inflation has been used in establishing a cost of living
adjustment percentage. In addition, an additional percentage usually has
been allowed as part of the pool that could be used as an additional
adjustment for performance/merit increases. The purpose of a
performance/merit increase is to reward or recognize employees that
exceed or provide exceptional work habits. Straight salary adjustments
that do no more than match the inflation expected in the upcoming year do
nothing for an employee in improving his buying power or living
conditions but merely keep him equal to where he was at the beginning of
the year".
Wolfsteller noted that the recent Kiplinger Letters published in
Washington have estimated the 1989 CPI should run around 5 to 5-1/2
percent. The Kiplinger Letter also estimates that the average pay raise
for non-union personnel is expected to average approximately 5 percent.
Assuming the Council continues the practice of using next year's
forecasted inflation factor as a guideline in establishing the amount of
the adjustment that should be granted.
Wolfsteller also stated that "based on discussions at last year's salary
meeting, I believe most Council members are favorable to the idea of
performance/merit seniority increases in addition to across the board
inflation adjustments. Some of the concerns of the Council last year
centered on what standards or guidelines have been used by the
administration in determining who qualifies for a performance or merit
increase. A few years back, employee evaluations were performed on an
annual basis by the Administrator and Department Heads for all employees;
Special Council Minutes - 11/28/88
and I propose that this again be instituted and used as a guideline for
making merit/performance adjustments in the future. Although this has
not been accomplished for 1988, my goal is to have performance
evaluations completed in the near future using this format so that each
employee has an idea of the areas that need improvement during the year.
Then when the performance evaluations are completed near the end of 1989,
they can be used as the guideline for any merit or performance increases
allowed in the following year (1990)."
Plans for development of an employee evaluation system received favorable
support from Council. The concept of using the evaluation system as a
tool in establishing merit pay increases received support as well;
however, no pre -established percent increase was established to be used
for merit increases for 1989 or beyond. Council directed staff to begin
implementation of the evaluation system for use in conjunction with 1990
salary negotiations.
Further discussion of pay increases for 1989 was tabled pending further
research into health insurance options for city employees. It was the
general consensus of Council to incorporate recent increases in insurance
into the discussion of salary increases. This item to be discussed at a
special meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m., December 12, 1988.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jeff O'Neill
Assistant Administrator
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