HomeMy WebLinkAbout082914 CC MinThe City of West University Place
A Neighborhood City
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF
Bob Fry, Mayor
Michael ROss,Qw Manager
Same Sample, Mayor Pro Tan
Alm Pevoq CiryAummey
Ed Henrhoem Coamilmember
Thelma Lev. Ciry SUremry
loan Lohman, Cmmlmember
Dick Yeble, Councdmom'e,
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
The City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in spedal/w rkshop session on
Friday, August 29, 2014, in the Municipal Building Conference Room, 3000 University Boulevard,
West University Place, Texas beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Agenda Items ware as follows:
1. Call to Color
Mayor Fry called the meeting to order at 11.30 a.m. Council and Stag in attendance were:
Councilmembers Heathco0, Johnson and Yelps, City Manager Ross, Assistant City Manager /Public
Works Director Peter, City Secretary Lenz, City Attorney Funny, Police Chief Walker, Fire Chief
Taylor, Finance Director Daugherty, Human Resources Director Standoff, Parks and Recreation
Director O'Connor, IT Director McFarland, Communications Manager Barber and Human
Resources Car lis[ Garcia. Mayor Pm Tern Sample was absent.
Also present was Lori Messer with Fox Lawson Associates (FIA), a division of Amur J. Gallagher
0 Co.
2. Compensation Bud
City Council and staff will discuss the results of a recent employee compensation study.
City Manager Michael Ross said this study is a result of Council's understanding that it was time to
do this study to see how the City compares with the market.
Mayor Fry maid he was on Couned when the last study was done in 2008 and at that time the City
was way behind in the market and, therefore, bad to do some heavy adjustments. He said this
Coined wants to be sure me City doesn't gel far behind in the market again and force future
Copper's to have to play catch up again.
Lod Messer with Fox Lawson Associates (FLA) first provided backgrountl about the study. She
said her firm was engaged to take a look at compensation benefits for the City and make
recommendations regarding the current state of compensaton benefits, identify the market
cempieveness of specific employee benchmarks, the benefits and costs associated with the
recommendatons, identify implementation and tamstion options, as well as review pay practices
and policies and the overall compensation program.
Gtv Council Minutes. August 2g, 201¢
Ms. Messer said the major consideration of the City was to establish market comparisons to the
current level of compensation paid to all City job classifications.
Ms. Messer reviewed the surveys compensation and classification objectives, which were:
Compensation levels should be reflective of the local Houston area public sector market,
• with pay grade midpoinle reflective of the 751° percentile of actual salaries whin the relevant
labor markets. The 751 percentile means that 75 pecent of the organizations studied would
pay less than West University Place and 25 percent of the organizations would pay more
than West University Place.
Development of a pay structure where Me midpoint is reflective of the defined labor market
• 75° percentile rates of pay for the general structure. SWOm structures (public safety) were
developed based on range minimum at the 750 percentile.
• Internal alignment would remain constant.
Additionally, City compensation objectives, which were:
Develop a comwneation program that Is intomally equitable and externally competitive.
Update me salary structure using resuAS from the market data.
• Have a total compensation approach that includes benefits.
• Assess market parity at the 75s percentile of actual salaries.
Ms. Messer said FLA developed a joint survey questionnaire to wiled salary data The survey
collaborators included the following organizations: City of West University Place, River Oaks
Property Owners, City of Bellaire, City of Sugar Land, and the City of Friendswood and the results
represent data from 23 organizations.
Ms. Messer said Met FIA followed the United States Department of Justice and FTC guidelines that
state there needs to be at least 5 job matches for a benchmark in odor to do any statistical
analysis.
In summarizing the data comparisons, Ms. Messer said it was found that tram an aggregate
perspective, West University Place's current midpoints of all positions are lagging the 7501 percentile
of market actual salaries.
In response to Councilmember Vehle's concern as to what the positions were relative to the 5r
peaceable, Ms. Messer said the positions were still lagging the market by 1.2 percent. She was not
sure of Me actual percentage for the 751" percentile.
Ms. Messer reviewed and explained come of the graphics in the survey. She said the cost for
employees to be placed Into the proposed structure, based on years of service (with a minimum 3%
increase and a maximum 15% increase, unless below range minimum), a approximately $398K,
which represents approximately 53% of payroll. She said there are multiple implementation
options available to the Ciry and are dependent upon budgetary constraints and overall
implementation strategy.
City Manager Ross explained that due to the City's annuallmerh increases, which are roughly 3
percent each year, the 5.3% is not outside of the norm.
Me, Messer then reviewed and summarized the City's benefits. She said a customized data
collection form was created to wiled benefits information in conjunction wish the salary survey.
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City Council Minutes, August 29, gad
She said the benefits survey included salary increases, formal salary ranges, salary range
adjustments, variable pay plans, allowances, public safety allowances, alternative work schedule$,
special recruiting strategies, retirement benerRs, paid leave (sick, vacation, holiday, personal,
bereavement), leave carryover, medical, central and vision insurance, Ile insurance, retiree health
insurance, and wellness program.
Ms. Messer said FL found that the City's pay practical; and benefit program offerings are
competitive with the compactor market: however, given the City's goal to be an employer of choice,
consideration may want to be given to the following.
• Increasing annual sick leave accruals to be more in line with benchmark organizations; and
• Changing recruitment strategy to 7P percentile in older to attad and retain quality
employees in all position classifications.
Ms. Messer concluded with the following administrative recommendations.
• Salary Structure Review /Updates
• Annual Updates
• Salary structure should be reviewed annually.
Respective starting ales, job rates and mart maximums should be increased
by a percentage that reflects the market trends and the City's hiring
experience. The use of a dollar amount increase would compress the
structure over time.
• Long -Tenn Updates
• The City should reevaluate its overall structure at regular intervals (2 to 3
years depending upon market movements) to ensure that its salary levels are
consistent with the marketplace.
• This would involve conducting a market salary study, such as was conducted
hare, every 2 to 3 years (depending on the economy) to make sure that the
City's pay scales and employee salaries remain competitive.
Mayor Fry asked how many of the other benchmark cities pay into Social Security for employees.
HR Director Standoff responded that all organizations except 5 of the 23 benchmark cities pay into
social security. Note: This was confirmed again when answering a question by resident Steven
Segal at the and of the presentation.
Coundintember smile said a significant number of jobs are nonexempt and wondered d overgme
was factored! into the pay. Ms. Messer said, no, because it is difficult to articulate the overtime
factor when surveying organizations.
Coundlmembar Yehle's said his concern Is whether West U offers more or less overtime than other
organizations. Ms. Messer said that is a sterling issue rather than a base play issue.
City Manager Ross sad he betieve; West U is below the overtime threshold compared to most
cities.
Councilmember Yehle asked R overtime is something that employees consider when interviewing.
HR Director Standorf said no they usually are looking at the base pay and the benefits.
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City Council Minutes, August 29. 2014
Mr. Ross said staff tries to discourage overtime so that employees do not come to count on it as
part of the base pay.
Regaining commuting, Councilmember Yehle asked d the City could address the commuting issue
by being a 50 percentile city with a commuting premium or a 75 percentile city, without a commuting
Premium.
Mr. Ross said he doesn't think they are mutually exclusive. He said Ts decided where you want to
be in a market from a pay perspective and you hope ttafs enough to offut the commuting
challenges, which is staffs hope for West U.
Coundlmember Johnson asked if there are any jobs whereby staff can work from home. City
Manager Ross said there are, but staff has not ratted out an aggressive telecommuting policy, but
said it is something tat will be discussed more during the budget.
Councilmember Yeble said he is concemad about the notion of longevity, whereby an employee
gets more money for being around a long time. He said he wants an employee to be good before
getting paid more.
Ms. Messer said Ff.A does not advocate pay for longevity, but in the marketplace some
organizations do.
City Manager Ross said some cities do have another forth of longevity pay that is based on time in
position. He said it is usually a monthly stipend for each month served ($5 per month in West UT
He said it is completely separate from the pay range calculation and the amount varies by city.
City Manager Ross sad if Council becomes comfortable with fine recommendations and they are
approved in the 2015 Budget, staff would like to begin using some of the salary ranges, especially
in the public safely world, for recruiting employees before the year ends.
Councilmember Heathoott said he thinks it is going to continue to be difficult to record positions
such as electrician, mechanics, etc., so the City might have to look at those positions in a different
light.
In response to Mayor Frys question to Ms. Messer as to how often should the City conduct a study,
Ms. Messer responded 3 to 5 years.
Nate: A copy of Me complete compensation survey is filed in Lasev(iche.
3. Consent Aaenda
All Consent Agenda items listed are considered to be routine by the City Council and will be
enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council
member requests in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and
considered in it normal sequence on the agenda.
A. Chris Council Minutes
Approve Minutes of August 11, 2014 City Council Meeting. Rerommerdad Action Approve
Mimes.
B. Appointments to the Friends of West U Parks Fund, Inc.
Matters related to a resolution appointing Anna Stewart to Position y and Robin Murray to
Position 15 ofthe Friends Board Recommended Action: Approve reaWNion.
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City Council Minutes, August 29, 2014
C. National Payroll Week Proclamation
Matters related to a Proclamation proclaiming September 1 -5, 2014 as National Payroll Week.
Ms. Ass ie Moorrey. Campbeller
Councilmember Johnson moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Councilmember
Heathcott seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED.
Ayes: Fry. Heathoob. Johnson. Yehle
Now None
Absent: Sample
A Ay
With no further business, Councilmember HeathcoH moved b adjourn at 12:45 p.m.
Councilmember Yehle seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED.
Ayes: Fry, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle
Noss: None
Absent: Sample
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