The ordinance fixing the 2018 salaries of appointed officers and employees, as well as fire and police personnel of the City of Plymouth, was recently up for approval by the Plymouth City Council.
The salary ordinance has been a topic of concern since the end of August, when the initial proposal was rejected. A committee was formed in order to review and work on the ordinance to come up with a more suitable solution. The revisions were presented at the City Council meeting Monday evening.
The committee consisted of Council members Shiloh Fonseca, Bill Walters and Don Ecker Jr. They worked with Clerk-Treasurer Jeanine Xaver and Emyle Kruyer-Collins from Human Resources discussing alternative options and looking into the survey that was provided by the city’s consultants Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates.
The survey, which was utilized to create the first proposed salary ordinance, had employees provide job descriptions and the consultants assessed various areas of each department, such as the number of people involved, the skill set required and surrounding municipality and community department salaries.
During the August meeting where the initial salary ordinance was not approved, many council members provided why they were against the proposed changes.
Initially, the 2018 salary ordinance did not include any raises for the police department since they received a raise in 2017. Councilman Bill Walters expressed concern about this, stating that the reason the council approved a raise for the Police Department was to remain competitive with surrounding communities. If the department did not see an increase for 2018 he feared they would fall behind. In the revised 2018 salary ordinance proposal, there were raises were added to the police department positions.
Jeff Houin was another members who spoke up against it, saying he could not justify giving certain departments a bigger percentage raise than other departments. The concern was mainly with the salaries of those working in the Clerk-Treasurer’s department. The survey revealed that the proposed salary for those employees fell above the external high point, set to help regulate average pay.
The initial number was calculated from information pertaining to skill level, workload and responsibilities within the department. The first proposal called for an increase from the 2017 salary of $19.35 per hour to $22.65 per hour in 2018. The revised proposal set the Deputy Clerk-Treasurer salary at $20.51 and reduced other positions accordingly.
During Monday night’s meeting Houin seemed far more content with the ordinance up for approval, saying he could tell that the committee had spent a good deal of time fixing the issues that were discussed. He asked someone from the committee to explain what the process entailed.
Don Ecker Jr., the council member who formed the committee, spoke on the behalf of the committee. In essence, he said many compromises were made during the lengthy meeting in order to find the solution that would be able to appease all departments and result in the most fiscally responsible decisions.
“When you compare where we were with the original presentation versus what we’re presenting tonight, we believe it to be more acceptable and sustainable on a longer term basis than if we did the first one.” Ecker explained, “So the three of us, Bill Walters, Shiloh Fonseca and myself and Jeanine Xaver and Emyle Kruyer feel that this was an acceptable ordinance to go with.”
One public comment was provided by a concerned citizen who was in favor of the raises but was asking whether or not the City of Plymouth could afford to provide them. Councilman Ecker explained that in order to retain employees and keep individuals from seeking employment outside of the city, they would need to provide sufficient compensation. He said in the long-run it will pay off.
After acknowledging that changes were made to ensure fairness while also taking into consideration competitiveness and retention, the council members unanimously voted to approve the 2018 salary ordinance on second and third reading.
