title
Minutes for the March 22, 2007, special called Finance Committee meeting.
body
Finance & Administration Committee Minutes
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Special called meeting
3:00 p.m.
Members present were: Darrel Dover, Jim Hargis, Harold Perrin, John Street and Ann Williams. Mayor Formon and Mr. Tony Thomas from the Mayor’s Office were also in attendance. Councilwoman Furr was unable to attend.
PARKS
Resolution approving application for the Safe Routes to School Grant: Parks Director Jason Wilkie stated the grant is 100% funded by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. He said he met with the schools and they are open to the multi-year plan. He explained Nettleton Schools will apply first. Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilman Street, to place the resolution on the April 3rd Council agenda. All voted aye.
CITY ATTORNEY
Ordinance approving retirement benefits for the City Attorney: Human Resources Director Suzanne Hackney discussed the retirement benefits that would be provided by the ordinance. Councilwoman Williams motioned, seconded by Councilman Street, to place the ordinance on the April 3rd Council agenda. All voted aye.
MAYOR’S OFFICE
Resolution amending the salary grades for the positions of Chief City Engineer, Assistant City Engineer, Civil Engineer and Public Works Director: Mayor Formon discussed the proposed salaries for the engineers and Public Works Director. He explained they are expecting to make offers for the Public Works Director and the Chief City Engineer positions the day after the resolution is passed by the City Council. Councilman Street motioned, seconded by Councilman Perrin, to place the resolution on the April 3rd agenda. All voted aye. Chairman Dover asked for Mayor Formon to send the resolution out with an explanation discussing the positions and their salaries.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Pay plan survey: Chairman Dover expressed his appreciation to Ms. Hackney and Councilman Perrin for their work on the pay plan survey. Councilman Perrin discussed the findings of the recent pay plan surveys. He noted they added the cities of Pine Bluff, Hot Springs and Texarkana to the survey. He recommended looking at the pay plan every three years because of the change in economic factors, such as inflation. He also recommended hiring a professional firm in 2007 to do a full study on salaries and benefits. He further recommended setting elected officials salaries by ordinance every year. Further discussion was held concerning the survey plan. Finance Director Don Ray noted in the salary survey they did not reflect the benefits for the employee’s in each of the city’s that were surveyed, so the benefits could not be compared. He explained some city’s benefits may be more than Jonesboro. Mr. Tony Thomas also noted that while 38% of the employee’s salary in the City is offered in benefits, 38% cannot be uniformly added to each City employee’s salary because each employee’s benefits may not be the same. Councilman Perrin recommended unfreezing the 4% increase for department heads and elected officials. City Clerk Donna Jackson questioned why Pine Bluff, Hot Springs and Texarkana were added to the survey, noting the population of the cities are several thousands lower than Jonesboro. Ms. Hackney stated Councilman Perrin suggested those cities so they could get information from different areas of the state. Ms. Hackney suggested going back to Dr. Condrey and having him do an update of the original survey to see how the original cities have progressed since the original survey took place. Ms. Jackson questioned how they would have comparative data for elected officials since elected officials were left out of the original survey. Ms. Hackney stated they will have to survey where the elected officials are now since they were not originally included in the survey. Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilman Street, to prepare an ordinance allowing for the 4% salary increase that had been previously frozen for department heads and elected officials and place the ordinance on the April 3rd agenda. All voted aye. It was noted the 4% increase would be retroactive back to January 1st. It asked for Ms. Hackney to contact Dr. Condrey and get a price to update the salary survey and another price to do a full study that would also include benefits. City Attorney Phillip Crego expressed concern over elected official’s salaries being frozen due to the study of the pay plan, yet elected officials aren’t in the pay plan. Councilman Perrin suggested the City look into setting elected officials salaries by ordinance every year. Mayor Formon questioned the need to set the elected officials salaries by ordinance. He explained the salaries are technically already set by ordinance because the salaries are included in the budget and the budget is passed by ordinance every year.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, Councilman Perrin motioned, seconded by Councilman Street, to adjourn. All voted aye.