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Commissioner Halkiotis said that he would support Commissioner Jacobs' request and look at taking the money for the meritorious service awards and use it towards moving the employees up to a housing wage. He said that he has never been an advocate of the meritorious service awards. He said that the Sheriff expects his employees to live in Orange County and even $800 a month is difficult for some employees. Commissioner Carey said that the County should set an example and pay a living wage that allows the staff to live in Orange County. Elaine Holmes said that there are 200 employees below the two-bedroom rate and 66 below the one bedroom rate. Commissioner Jacobs would like to look at alternatives to catch everybody up to the housing wage within two years. Chair Brown asked about the compression of the pay plan and Elaine Holmes said that if the minimum wage was increased to a certain level then there are issues in terms of employee and supervisory relationships. Steve Condrey said that you could do this in increments and you would not have to compress all salaries. Commissioner Carey said that we should move in this direction in principle and keep an eye on the compression issue. Chair Brown said that she would like to understand the $27,000 living wage for a one-bedroom apartment. This is assuming that the person is not married and they are paying the absolute maximum rent that the County has. She said that this does not necessarily show what is going on in the community. She asked if the 66 employees would mainly be in the Sheriff's Department. Elaine Holmes said that the 66 employees involve those throughout the County -convenience center operators, office assistants, custodians, nursing assistants, etc. Elaine Holmes will bring back some options about the housing wage. Commissioner Gordon asked about a revenue neutral way of doing this pay plan. For example, instead of giving an increase of 2.5% at four and seven years of service, give 2% at five and ten years of service. There might be some money left over to bring the 66 employees up to a housing wage. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the stepless schedule and said that we should do it for a while and not change it in two years. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the analyses on the gender and race equity and there is a significant difference in the sense that females get paid less than males and whites get paid less than non-whites. She would like to keep tabs on this. Steve Condrey said that we could look at this internally but overall there are no systematic biases to the pay plan. Also, he said that he agrees about the stepless salary schedule. Secondly, he would keep the 2.5°~ increase because it would help the compression. Chair Brown asked if adoption would be far two years far the pay plan. Elaine Holmes said that the proposal is for the Board to adopt the classifications, the salary grades, the stepless salary schedule, and the salary administration to move people up to the new minimum, and grant the first 2.5°l0. On the other service-based increases, they are proposing that the Board express its intent to came back and do it at the recommended dates. Chair Brown asked if the COLA would ever be a part of this. Steve Condrey said that each year the scales should rise and the employees' salaries should also rise by the same amount. The performance increases should be on top of this.