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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/22/1992 Meeting M I NUT E S e Eugene City Council . Work Session McNutt Room--City Hall June 22, 1992 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Shawn Boles, Debra Ehrman, Bobby Green (6:00 p.m.), Randy MacDonald, Paul Nicholson, Kaye Robinette. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Ruth Bascom, Roger Rutan. The meeting of the Eugene City Council was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Mi 11 er. I. APPROVAL OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES Mr. MacDonald reported that announcement is expected of a special legislative session to discuss the Governor's tax package. He stated that the package displays some sensitivity, although not enough, to the issues important to cities. Mr. MacDonald reported that the governor's proposal includes: 1) a e 3.5-percent sales tax on goods, dedicated to schools, with the option for cities and counties to increase the tax by .2 percent, contingent on a local vote; 2) a two-year temporary assessed valuation (AV) cap (the statewide aver- age AV growth has been 8.3 percent); 3) immediate implementation of Ballot Measure 5; and 4) a split-roll property tax of $20 per $1,000 of AV for busi- ness and $15 per $1,000 for primary residents, with the $5 differential dedi- cated to schools. Mr. MacDonald stated that the AV cap is particularly oner- ous. The City Council Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Committee has asked the council to contact local legislators regarding its position on the tax package. In reply to Ms. Ehrman's question, Phil Lemman, Intergovernmental Relations Division, stated that the IGR Committee approved an application to the County for a $500,000 grant for Olive Street reconstruction. As representatives of the Eugene Downtown Commission, Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Rutan will attend the County hearing on the application. Mr. Boles moved, seconded by Ms. Ehrman, to approve the minutes of the IGR Committee. The motion passed unanimously, 5:0. ~ e MINUTES--City Council Work Session June 22, 1992 Page 1 5:30 p.m. " .. . e II. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOllOW-UP DISCUSSION Linda Norris, Acting Assistant City Manager, reviewed the questions about compensation and benefits policies for the council's discussion. The first question discussed was, "Should the City continue its current policy of setting compensation according to market data of comparable organizations in the relevant recruitment area?" Mr. Boles suggested that after Eugene Decisions is completed, the council should incorporate the dollar value associated with the community's high qual- ity of life into its definition of market rate for employee compensation. City Manager Mike Gleason stated that the City's compensation rate already lags 15-20 percent behind those of Portland and Seattle, the most relevant urban comparators. Eugene's is one of the lowest-priced wage markets in the region. Further, most recruitment is carried out locally rather than in com- munities with lower quality-of-life indices. He stated that the City's pay rates are also lower than the existing local private-sector market rates. Mr. MacDonald agreed with Mr. Gleason. Mr. Nicholson stated that the current City methodology is not the most appro- priate to determine the market rate, because it has not convinced the public that the City's compensation rates are reasonable. He said that the City's e objective should not be to pay the lowest wages possible, but rather to lead the public discussion of whether the utmost is being done to curb payroll expenses through maximizing performance and efficiency in service provision. To gain greater credibility, he suggested: 1) appointment of an outside agen- cy to audit the City's compensation practices; 2) establishment of a citizen review committee; and 3) periodic reviews by the City Council. Mr. Robinette agreed that the problem is primarily one of how to achieve cred- ibility in the eyes of constituents. Ms. Ehrman objected that none of the recommendations in previous studies of the City's employment practices were followed. Mr. Robinette disagreed. Mr. MacDonald supported appointing an auditor and a citizen review committee. Mr. Miller objected to spending more City funds, adding that concerned groups have already reviewed the available data. Mr. Green arrived. Mr. Robinette stated that the role of the council is to inform the City Manag- er of the desired outcomes of City employment and delegate to him responsibil- ity for determining compensation. Mr. Boles agreed, and suggested that the first question and the second question ("What criteria should the City use in selecting public and private sector agencies to survey?") be answered by main- '" e MINUTES--City Council Work Session June 22, 1992 Page 2 5:30 p.m. taining the status quo until it is possible to distinguish policy effective- e ness from program efficiency. The council should address policy effective- ness, he said, and leave program efficiency within the Manager's purview. Mr. Gleason argued for maintaining a market-based compensation policy due to its value in collective bargaining. The council discussed the criteria to be used by the City in selecting public and private sector agencies to survey. Mr. Gleason explained that the size of the recruitment area depends on the position being recruited; for example, to recruit black police officers, the City must look outside the local area. Ms. Norris explained that the geographical area of recruitment is expanded for two reasons: to achieve a sufficiently large pool of qualified applicants, and to achieve sufficient diversity in that pool. She said that criteria can include social issues; for example, the City currently lacks enough Spanish-speaking police officers. Mr. Gleason stated that the Federal government requires the City to be able to demonstrate that its work force reflects the ethnic composition of the commu- nity. In effect, the City must seek a balance in order to avoid vulnerability to lawsuits from either minorities or whites claiming bias in City employment policies. Mr. Green stated that City leaders appeared to favor a policy on diversity in hiring that sought only the minimum necessary compliance with the law. Mr. Gleason responded that the numbers of minorities in the City's work force e already exceed Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) standards in many job categories; in others, the City is aggressively recruiting minorities in the belief that the community's composition will become more racially and ethnically diverse in the future. In response to Mr. Boles' suggestion that the City's objectives be reflected in the written criteria, he stated that in order to avoid lawsuit, the City's policy must not dictate favoring or exclud- ing any group. Ms. Norris suggested rewriting the criterion to state that the geographical area used by the City in selecting public and private sector agencies to sur- vey should assist the City in meeting its affirmative action goals. Mr. Boles suggested adding that the area should contain applicants who will provide optimum service for the City's changing, diverse population. The council agreed with both suggestions. Mr. Boles stated that the City currently sets entry-level wages at 25 percent below the final rate paid to the employee after years of service. He proposed that entry-level compensation be reduced to 35 percent below the market median for that position, so that an employee must work two more years than at present before reaching the highest rate of compensation. Ms. Norris replied that that would be a matter for negotiation with the City's unions. Mr. Gleason stated that the City's current employment situation is relatively satisfactory, and may not require serious modifications. ~ e MINUTES--City Council Work Session June 22, 1992 Page 3 5:30 p.m. e Mr. MacDonald asked how small businesses could be incorporated as comparators in the City's surveys of private sector compensation. Ms. Norris pointed out that information from organizations or companies with fewer than 150 employees is not usable, because their job descriptions differ too greatly from the City's. Ms. Ehrman stated that public dissatisfaction with compensation policies must be taken seriously, since the public is the City government's customer. Mr. Boles added that either the council should become more competent to handle management issues, or should refrain from doing so and leave them to the City Manager. Mr. Green replied that the council should deal with some management issues, but should decide more carefully which issues to address, based on need, and should focus more specifically on them. The council agreed to delay further consideration of the matter. III. COUNCIL WORK PLAN REVIEW Mr. MacDonald stated that State transportation policy is languishing, and expressed frustration that the council is having too little input on it. Mr. Boles replied that some local transportation matters are now being handled by the Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC), whose discussions are becoming more substantive. The Transportation Rule Implementation Program (TRIP) is being addressed through the Central Area Transportation Study (CATS), he added. Mr. e Gleason stated that since this is the first year of State transportation plan- ning under the new Federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), the State is behind schedule; thus, the City has time to have input. Mr. MacDonald requested that the council be kept more informed on transporta- tion matters, since transportation is one of the council's top five priori- ties. Mr. Boles agreed. The meeting adjourned at 7:22 p.m. RespectfUll~ ~ - Micheal Gleason City Manager (Recorded by Christina Cowger) cc53022.062 ., e MINUTES--City Council Work Session June 22, 1992 Page 4 5:30 p.m.