12-08-2014 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, December 8, 2014 6:30 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 22 of 26 (23. FIRST AMENDMENT TO EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS, Continued) Walsh indicated he looked up the statistics for family income. Walsh stated if the top 10 percent of family incomes are greater than $120,000 a year and the top 5 percent of family incomes are $153,000 a year, in his view the City is doing pretty good in terms of what they pay their employees. Walsh stated the City Council needs to get back to what Mayor McMillan said about Orono being a small city. Walsh noted Orono is not bound to do what everybody else does and that employee benefits that continue to grow is one reason why a lot of cities around the country went bankrupt. Walsh stated he does not want to see Orono find itself in that kind of position and that this is a conversation that needs to be had from a long-term perspective. Police Chief Farniok stated within the salary schedule that was provided to the Council, there are some examples where they have no cap for medical. Farniok stated currently the police chief of Loretto has 1500 hours where Orono’s is capped at 900 as it relates to compensation. In addition, some of the salaries in other neighboring cities allow their police chiefs to have full medical or a higher benefit. Farniok stated the schedule shows that Orono’s compensation and benefits are well behind some of the neighboring cities even though Orono is one of the larger police departments around Lake Minnetonka. Farniok stated a number of the other police chief positions also do not have as many responsibilities that he holds, such as director of emergency management. Farniok stated when you compare that to South Minnetonka, which has several contract cities and joint power agreements, Orono would be about equal with the package that has been presented tonight. McMillan stated one of the struggles she is having is with the deductible piece of it since the City has attempted to base the insurance on what is used. McMillan noted in the past the City got into a situation where they were paying more for a deductible than what was being used and that she is struggling with paying for that up front when it may not all be used. McMillan noted the City has also capped the single premium for other employees. McMillan stated the goal with the union contract was to increase the family insurance payment piece and that she is struggling with the deductible piece of the proposal, which is a benefit that nobody else has in the City. Printup stated dollar for dollar it comes out to $16,000, and based on the preceding drawn-out conversation about $7,400, he is not comfortable with it for a variety of reasons. Printup noted the City Council just received the information two weeks ago and that he would like a more thorough discussion on this next year rather than having two weeks to think about it. Bremer stated she is fine with that and that she understands the rationale. Bremer stated in her view the question is a philosophical question and that it is important and beneficial to all parties to know what the market rate is. Bremer noted previously the philosophy of the City was to be competitive in order to attract the top talent. Bremer noted the City ended up hiring these two candidates and that the City likely was able to negotiate a really good contract because it was done at a time when the economy was not in the best of shape. Bremer stated she would like to remind the Council that the past long-term city administrator had what is being proposed tonight and that it was relatively standard at that time.