Agenda 05-03-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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24 1 15, 2021 Business meeting is attached. 2 3 Chair Price reviewed the background information for the item. 4 Gary Donaldson stated that correlating the salary with department heads will not be 5 feasible due to variations within that range. He said the salary cap of$132,379.20 is more likely. 6 Commissioner Hamilton asked who sets the Clerk of Court's salary. 7 John Roberts said that is determined by the state. 8 Commissioner Hamilton said it is hard to know if 20% is an appropriate cap. She said 9 she does not feel comfortable making the decision without more information. 10 Commissioner Bedford said she served on ABC Board in the past and that the board 11 puts a lot of effort and time into evaluating the General Manager's salary. She said she is 12 comfortable with the decision making by that board. She said that there is compression within 13 the management team. She said she is interested in approving the 20% salary increase cap. 14 She said that since the BOCC appoints members of ABC board, she is comfortable with this. 15 Commissioner Fowler said the Assistant General Manager's max is close to the General 16 Manager's. She said she would feel comfortable with the 20% cap. She said that by statute next 17 year the Clerk will go up to $113,000. She said this should help things for a few years. 18 Commissioner Richards asked what the goal is with the increase. She asked if it is really 19 compression issue. She said that she examined the Durham and Wake County salaries and 20 asked if the increase will also help retain talent. 21 Bonnie Hammersley clarified that this comes directly from the ABC Board by statute. 22 She said that if they want to exceed the Clerk of Court salary, statute requires the BOCC 23 approval. 24 Chair Price elaborated that the county has no input on the Clerk of Court's salary and 25 that it is controlled by the state. 26 Commissioner Richards asked if it should be higher than 20%. 27 Chair Price said she does not know if it will enough and that she is still struggling with 28 why the ABC manager's salary is tied to the Clerk of Court salary. 29 Commissioner McKee said the ABC Board is a state board and has no oversight other 30 than members that the BOCC appoints to it. He said that the state limitation in the salary is in 31 effect with this decision and requires the BOCC to override that. He said he does not want to 32 determine whether it's effective or fair because that's for the independent board to decide. He 33 said that his interest is simply determining whether it should exceed Clerk of Court. 34 Commissioner Greene referenced minutes from June 15, 2021. She summarized the 35 discussion. She said she feels she does not have enough information to vote yes. 36 Patrick Burns, ABC Board Chair, said that comparing the General Manager's position to 37 Clerk of Court makes no sense. He said that the ABC system is a retail operation. He said the 38 General Manager is responsible for taking care of employees, building stores, and overseeing 39 functions of a retail business. He said there is a lot of complexity to the position, and it has 40 grown a lot the past few years. He said the last time, in June of 2021, it seems it was looked at 41 as a raise for just one person. He said it is really room for the ABC Board to determine the GM 42 salary and not allowing this will make the compression issue worse. He did say that no one can 43 make more than the General Manager. He said that the ABC Board is trying to get to a point 44 where they can evaluate and compensate and retain employees. He said that the pandemic has 45 increased sales and that those increases have also been shared with contributions to treatment 46 opportunities. He said that they are above the statutory requirement for contributions for 47 treatment opportunities. He said there are department heads within a salary range that are not 48 at the top. 49 Commissioner Greene said she wished more comparable had been included besides 50 Durham and Wake since those populations are larger.