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APPROVED 10/20/98 <br />MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />June 22, 1998 <br />5:30 Budget Work Session <br />The Orange County Board of County Commissioners met for a budget work session resumed from June 16, <br />1998 at 5:30 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Margaret W. Brown, and Commissioners Moses <br />Carey, Jr., William L. Crowther, Alice M. Gordon and Stephen H. Halkiotis. <br />COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers <br />Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be <br />identified appropriately below) <br />NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT <br />AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING <br />WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. <br />EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she has been working on some ideas for pay compensation. She distributed <br />her recommendation which is attached to these minutes and incorporated by reference. Her "possible revision of <br />the current pay plan" changed the career growth recognition award to a supplemental income fund to be determined. <br />The performance award would be given to those employees found to be outstanding, eliminating the highly effective <br />award and capping the outstanding award at 4-6% per year or an average of 5% over two years. She explained that <br />the performance award could be changed to "Meritorious Service Awards" if and when that is approved. She <br />highlighted the possible revisions to the operating budget and to the CIP. Commissioner Gordon suggested that the <br />County Commissioners set aside some time in a work session to discuss methods of compensation, including merit <br />pay and performance evaluation, compensation plan and employee benefits with attention to employees who receive <br />relatively low pay. Possible revisions to school funding were to authorize an increase of 1.3 cents in the district tax <br />from 17.9 to 19.2 for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. If the Orange county Schools wish to appropriate <br />additional fund balance as the Manager recommended, the county will pick up recurring costs if necessary in the <br />future for up to $410,000 or approximately $64.80 per pupil. She referred to the memorandum "Suggested <br />Parameters for Appropriation of School Fund Balance" written by John Link, which explains the process. The County <br />will also provide the necessary start-up costs for opening two new schools. <br />In response to Commissioner Gordon's proposal, Commissioner Carey expressed a concern about the pay <br />plan which includes two parts where we are going to ask the manager for a recommendation on what to do. He has <br />a problem with that. He feels the County Commissioners should decide what the plan will be. He also is concerned <br />that the County Commissioners have spent a lot of time working on goals of the pay plan and that they gave direction <br />to the staff who have responded with a plan which addresses all the concerns the County Commissioners put on the <br />list including salary compression, career growth, etc. It seems that the current plan has not worked and he feels that <br />the plan as recommended has a chance of working. He also has a problem with the meritorious award because it <br />injects the commissioners in the process. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the Meritorious Service Awards would be given based on a plan yet to be <br />determined. The County Commissioners will approve the process for how these awards will be determined. <br />Commissioner Carey stated that he has a problem with the Meritorious Service Awards. He feels we should <br />approve the pay plan as presented by the County Manager. On the career growth awards, he would rather keep <br />what we have than go to one that clearly will not address the salary compression issues the County is facing. Also <br />with the unemployment rate at 1.1 % and the number of people hired above the minimum step, the County clearly has <br />a competition problem here in Orange County and it will get worse. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis stated that there have been a lot of fax messages sent during this budget process <br />and he hopes that does not happen again. He thanked Commissioner Gordon for all her work that she put into her