Minutes - 06-13-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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(Manager recommends that it continue at 2.5% ar a half-step in the pay plan}. She summarized same of the factors related to the cost of living increase. The information on Triangle J's pay plan was included as per the request of Commissioner Gordon. Commissioner Halkiotis asked how much was spent on the employee tuition assistance program and Elaine Holmes said that the amount budgeted was $4,000, but only $2,000 was spent. Commissioner Halkiotis asked why so few employees used the employee tuition assistance program. Elaine Holmes said that the County's prior limit of $300 a fiscal year did not capture a lot of interest. She was hoping that the $600 amount would encourage more employees to take advantage of it. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about on-call pay. Elaine Holmes said that this was the time an employee is required to be available to be on call to came in to work if the need arises. This is different from overtime. Atypical on-call amount would be $1 an hour. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for more clarification an who is doing on-call pay in local governments. Elaine Holmes gave examples of on-call positions elsewhere, such as UNC Hospitals, state governments, and a few local governments. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the $900,000 in lapsed salaries. John Link said that this mostly relates to difficulty in recruiting employees in the area. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if an assessment has been done to look at the lowest salaried people in County government. He is concerned that the lowest salaried are not getting enough attention. Elaine Holmes said that there was a proposed update to the living wage, which is presently $8.20 an hour. The update would increase the living wage to $8.45. The lowest salary for permanent employees in County government is $8.61 an hour. Commissioner Halkiotis thinks that the County needs to look at serving the lower salaried better because it is hard far them to make ends meet. He would like to treat everyone alike, not just the upper and middle salaried. Commissioner Brown asked Jahn Link about lapsed salaries and if they could be used far other purposes. John Link said that lapsed salaries could be used for temporary placements, but for no other purpose. All other lapsed salary money reverts back to the general fund. Commissioner Brown asked about the increase in the an-call pay and if this was in addition to the hourly rate. Elaine Holmes explained that on-call pay was in addition to regular pay. If the employee actually came back in to work, they would receive overtime pay. Commissioner Brown asked how many employees on-call pay would be affected. She said that it seems to her that if an employee was on call, they are pinned down and can not do another job, or much of anything else. Elaine Holmes said that typically seven employees would be on call at all times for the County. There are about 44 employees that rotate on-call duty. The jobs that have on-call duty are telecommunicators, animal control officers, building maintenance mechanics, automotive mechanics, and child protective services social workers. Commissioner Jacobs verified that the proposed amount set aside for on-call pay would be $44,000. Commissioner Jacobs agrees that there needs to be more emphasis put on the lower end of the pay scale to make the pay more than the minimum. He asked if there was a way to give incentives to get the lower salaried to pursue higher advancement. Commissioner Brown suggested having a form that shows the number of employees by salary grade and the jobs that are in that grade. Commissioner Jacobs suggested a survey of lower salaried employees to see what they would like in the way of tools to help them advance. Commissioner Brown would like to have an employee opinion survey. She asked Elaine Holmes to get a copy of the one done by OPC Mental Health. Commissioner Gordan asked about the Triangle J Council of Government's pay plan. She asked for a summary of the differences between Triangle J's and the County's pay plans. Elaine Holmes said that Triangle J has four performance rating levels just as Orange County does. She explained each performance level for Triangle J. Triangle J does not have lump sum awards.