Columbus, Georgia

Georgia's First Consolidated Government

Post Office Box 1340
Columbus, Georgia, 31902-1340
(706) 653-4013
fax (706) 653-4016

Council Members

Work Session

Minutes

July 18, 2006



Present: Mayor Bob Poydasheff. Councilors Nathan Suber, Charles McDaniel, Berry

H. Henderson, Glenn Davis, Julius Hunter, Evelyn Woodson and Evelyn Turner Pugh

were present. Also present were City Manager Isaiah Hugley, Deputy City Manager

Lisa Goodwin, City Attorney Clifton Fay, Assistant City Attorney Jamie Deloach,

Chief Administrator Liz Turner, and Recording Secretary Tameka J. Colbert.



Others Present: Human Resource Director, Tom Barron and Assistant Finance

Director Pam Hodge.



Absent: Mayor Pro Tem John J. Rodgers, Councilors Wayne Anthony and Gary Allen.



Location: Council Chambers Conference Room, on the Plaza level of the

Government Center.



Meeting began at 12:00 p.m.



Pay Plan Maximum Options:

City Manager Hugley said based on Pay Plan C, 108 employees maxed out after

having received a partial of any proposed pay change or longevity increase. He

said of those 108 employees 99 of those employees are Public Safety and 9 are

General Government. City Manager Hugley then said there was a spreadsheet

provided to Council that shows the various positions, the hire date, current

salary, new pay grade, the salary with plan C maximum, salary with plan A

maximum, and also what the pay would be with no maximum.



City Manager Hugley said the Council also received a revised letter this

morning that provides 5 options:



Option 1: Plan A Max ? The additional amount required to use the maximum

established in Plan A instead of Plan C is approximately $250,000, including

benefits. (If Plan A max is utilized, 7 employees would not receive the full

benefit of the longevity pay.) This will be an ongoing expense.



Option 2: No Max - The additional amount required if no maximum is established

instead of Plan C maximum is approximately $255,000, including benefits. This

will be an ongoing expense.



Option 3: Bonus with Plan C Max ? The additional amount required to pay a

bonus for those employees who exceed the Plan C maximum is approximately

$250,000. This will be a one-time expense.



Option 4: Bonus with Plan A Max ? The additional amount required to use the

maximum established in Plan A and a bonus for the amount exceeding the Plan A

maximum is approximately $255,000, $250,00 will be an ongoing expense, $5,000

will be a one-time expense.



Option 5: Plan C maximum - $0 additional expense would be incurred.



Councilor McDaniel asked City Manager Hugley what is he going to do about the 7

employees that will not receive full benefits. City Manager Hugley said as

Councilor Henderson stated, because it is only $5,000 it would be recommended

that we go ahead and take care of those people but make it clear that this is

just a part of the implementation of the pay plan and it is a one-time deal and

in future years if you are at the max that $5,000 is not promised to you. City

Manager Hugley then said that there would be a resolution or an ordinance that

states that information.



City Manager Hugley said he has a meeting with Public Safety today at 2: 00

p.m. and he would like to be able to say to them that there will be an

ordinance called for by Council that would use the maximum in Pay Plan A and

then there would be 7 employees that would be beyond Pay Plan A and those

persons would receive a bonus for that portion beyond the maximum in Pay Plan

A.



Councilor Henderson suggested the verbiage be changed to say Council called for

an ordinance to give everyone the venue based adjustment; even the people who

have reached 100% of what the study says they should be paid and said anyone at

the 100% would receive that portion.



EMT/Firemedic Certification Pay:

City Manager Hugley said Fire/EMS Department sworn employees certified as

Emergency Medical Technicians-Intermediate (EMT-I) currently receive $2600 per

year EMT certification pay. He said these employees will be placed in the UGA

pay plan at their appropriate grade based upon their current base salary plus

appropriate longevity. City Manager Hugley then said, to improve

administration and to prevent employees currently receiving the EMT-I

Certification pay from losing money, the $2600 EMT-I certification pay will

then be added to the employees base salary and their EMT-I certification pay

will be eliminated effective 7/1/2006. He said Ordinance 04-10, Section 1,

Item 18 that created the EMT certification pay would be repealed.



City Manager Hugley said Fire/EMS Department sworn employees certified as

Paramedics currently receive up to $5000 per year certification pay, based upon

their rank. He said these employees would be placed in the UGA pay plan at

their appropriate grade based upon their current base salary plus appropriate

longevity. He said for uniformity, ease of administration and to prevent

employees currently receiving the Paramedic certification pay from losing

money, $2600 of the Paramedic certification pay will then be added to the

employees base salary and their Paramedic certification pay will be reduced to

$2400 effective 7/1/2006. City Manager Hugley stated that qualified employees

will continue to receive the new Paramedic certification pay until such time as

they are no longer qualified to receive said payment. He said new employees

obtaining Paramedic certification after 6/30/2006 will receive $2400 in

certification pay ($2600 Grade 14 Pay + $2400 Paramedic Pay = $5000). City

Manager Hugley informed the Council that Ordinance No. 02-103 that created the

current Paramedic certification pay would

be repealed.



Administrative Rules:

City Manager Hugley read from a handout submitted by Tom Barron Director of

Human Resource, entitled ? New UGA Pay Plan Administrative Rules Requiring

Ordinance? (A copy was filed here in the office and attached for the records).

He explained to the Council that Section16B-3-2-1 of the City Code contains the

current policy and must be repealed. City Manager Hugley read the current

Promotion Pay Policy and also read the recommended new Promotion Pay Policy.



Councilor Davis said he is under the understanding that the starting pay for

Public Safety officers across the board would be $28,000. City Manager Hugley

said not for Firefighters. He said those without an associate?s degree would

come in 2 1/2% less than those with an associate?s degree.



At this point, City Manager Hugley continued reading from the handout as it

relates to Public Safety Educational Incentive Payments.



City Manager Hugley said we know that these issues are out there that we have

to resolve; these are things that we are considering.



Councilor Henderson said that he has been asked by a few of the folks at the

Fire Department would they receive the incentive if they were in the process of

getting a degree. Councilor Henderson asked if that would be beneficial or is

it something the Councilors need to consider. City Manager Hugley said that

is something that the Council would have to decide.



City Manager Hugley continued reading the remainder of the handout. City

Manager Hugley reiterated to the Council that he would be going to Public

Safety at 2:00 p.m. to present the handout.



Councilor Turner Pugh asked what kind of recommendations would be made as far

as the retirees. City Manager Hugley said he could not give an answer to that

right now, but he would bring some suggestions before the mid-year budget.



Councilor Turner Pugh moved to accept Option 4 of the Pay Plan Maximum Options.

Seconded by Councilor Henderson and carried unanimously by those seven members

of Council present at the time, with Councilors Allen, Anthony and Mayor Pro

Tem Rodgers being absent for this meeting.





Meeting adjourned at 1:01 P.M.







___________________________

Tameka J. Colbert

Recording Secretary

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