Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
2 <br />County has no full time employees earning less than $8.00 an hour. There are also many temporary <br />employees starting at $8.00 or more, however some are paid between $6.50 and $8.00. Some of those <br />temporaries are Recreation employees and others are working to cover for absences and illness of <br />permanent employees. <br />County Manager John Link also mentioned that there are several MPA Interns who are paid <br />between $2,500 - $5,000 for a two to four month period of time. They are being paid while receiving work <br />experience. <br />Pam Jones, Director of the Purchasing Department, indicated that the Service Contract section <br />applies to contracts for which the County is obligated to pay the service contractor $25,000 or more in a <br />given year. It also applies to services that the County could provide for itself with its own employees, <br />should it decide to do so. Examples of these service contracts would be grounds keeping and/or in-home <br />care. A second category is construction contracts that fall between $25,000 to $100,000. Amounts aver <br />$100,000 are covered by State bid guidelines. She mentioned that recipients of loan pool funds would <br />also have to pay their employees a living wage. The Economic Development Commission endorsed this <br />proposal by an 8 to 1 vote. The one member who voted against this was concerned with the cost to <br />businesses starting up and to non-profits. Pam Jones mentioned that the non-profits are not included in <br />this Ordinance. Also, County employees are covered under a parallel Ordinance. She mentioned that <br />contractors would be required to submit affidavits proving compliance prior to the beginning of a project <br />and again at the end. Also flyers will be posted where employees can see them. Finally, she mentioned <br />that the Ordinance does not include an automatic pay escalation clause, however, it does include <br />remedies to insure compliance. <br />County Attorney Gledhill stated that each contract that is covered by this Ordinance would <br />include the language on page 11 of the ordinance. That language makes the requirements of the <br />Ordinance a part of the contract between the vendor and the County. It also provides for restitution to <br />employees and the County and allows the County to enforce the Ordinance. It also includes a clause <br />which forbids punishing of employees. The County Manager would be given the power to investigate and <br />assure compliance. <br />COMMENTS AND/OR QUESTIONS FROM THE PLANNING BOARD <br />Planning Board Chair Barrows asked why the County would receive restitution along with the <br />worker who was underpaid according to the standard set by this Ordinance. The County Attorney <br />referred to Page 11. 3. b which explained that there are costs to the County associated with non- <br />compliance of this Ordinance. <br />COMMENTS AND/OR QUESTIONS FROM CITIZENS <br />Michele Rivest, Executive Director of the Partnership for Young Children, commented that this <br />Ordinance presents a dilemma. It is extremely important that parents be paid a living wage in order to be <br />able to pay for the high cost of child care. However, this Ordinance will pose a hardship for owners of <br />Child Care facilities and more than likely will cause them to raise the cost of child care. That cost will <br />then be paid by the parents of those children. The people who will feel the impact of that increase the <br />most are those parents at the lowest end of the pay scale. Those are the very parents who would more <br />than likely be the beneficiaries of the Living Wage Ordinance. <br />Sue Russell, Executive Director of Day Care Services Association, mentioned that many families <br />receiving subsidies have their children enrolled in facilities whose employees are paid between $5.50 and <br />$7.60 per hour. This would increase the cost of providing the child care and some of those facilities may <br />chose not to participate in the subsidy program with the County. She mentioned the Child Care Wages <br />Project which was created by the Partnership for Young Children. This project is a salary supplement <br />which provides between $10 and $1.00 supplement. She asked the County to both increase the wages <br />and increase the child care subsidy. <br />In response to a question, the County Attorney indicated that for profit child care facilities would <br />be covered and non-profit would be covered only if the County Commissioners decided that they were <br />covered.