12-09-2019 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,December 9,2019 6:30 o'clock p.m. move up in that grid by a slot and then at the 1st of the year you get what's referred to as a COLA(Cost of Living Adjustment). With COLA, if you make $50,000 in 2019,the goal is to make the equivalent in 2020. The cost of living can be argued, whether it should be 2 or 3%, but COLA is not performance- based, it's based on keeping an employee the same. He felt what was proposed is a COLA,not a performance-based raise. He indicated there can be reviews in terms of performance-based or where people fall on grids. Sometimes people get to the top of grids and then all they have is their COLAs and it can go to a performance-based. In the private sector, a department gets a certain pool of money and how it is distributed varies: high performers, low performers, met expectations. It isn't typically seen at the local government. Johnson noted you don't see local governments that are going to be debt-free, either. Walsh asked what the drawback would be that might impact unions. Mattick said unions look for internal consistency, so the minute you ink one,when it is up for a Collective Bargaining Agreement,they will see the percentage given and they're going to look for internal consistency. If you find yourself in a situation where you're arbitrating, one of the things arbitrators look for is internal consistency. They go beyond your negotiated unit. They will look at what was done with other folks. If Adam gets 7%,the 49ers underneath him could think that looks like the new norm. That is the climate you find yourself in sometimes. Council members discussed a payment situation from ten years earlier. Crosby suggested building in the automatic COLA of 3%,but also building in the possibility for a bonus based on a performance review. Johnson asked how it got to 3%. Rief said the Police and the Police Sergeants receive 3%. Crosby stated legitimately that is an inflation figure. Rief said he received 20-25 emails in the past week about cities around the state, and if he took the average, it would be a 2.85 -2.9% increase. Walsh said he would love to be the capitalist guy because he does that in his office, but in government there are different issues and you are more constrained and you have to look at the unintended consequences of actions. The City Council needs to follow through with what they have, although Staff still need to get reviews. Rief said they are beginning the process right now. Mattick said the thing to keep in mind is,whether you're giving COLAs or raises, annual performance reviews are critically important to an organization. One does not need to be contingent on the other,but performance reviews have to happen. When he does training on those types of personnel issues, annual performance reviews are mandatory. Whether they are hooked to the COLA is up to the Council. Page 32 of 34