Minutes 04-05-2022 Business Meeting

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24 The Board of Commissioners previously considered a request from the ABC Board regarding the General Manager's salary in June 2021. An excerpt of the minutes from the Board's June 15, 2021 Business meeting is attached. Chair Price reviewed the background information for the item. Gary Donaldson stated that correlating the salary with department heads will not be feasible due to variations within that range. He said the salary cap of $132,379.20 is more likely. Commissioner Hamilton asked who sets the Clerk of Court's salary. John Roberts said that is determined by the state. Commissioner Hamilton said it is hard to know if 20% is an appropriate cap. She said she does not feel comfortable making the decision without more information. Commissioner Bedford said she served on ABC Board in the past and that the board puts a lot of effort and time into evaluating the General Manager's salary. She said she is comfortable with the decision making by that board. She said that there is compression within the management team. She said she is interested in approving the 20% salary increase cap. She said that since the BOCC appoints members of ABC board, she is comfortable with this. Commissioner Fowler said the Assistant General Manager's max is close to the General Manager's. She said she would feel comfortable with the 20% cap. She said that by statute next year the Clerk will go up to $113,000. She said this should help things for a few years. Commissioner Richards asked what the goal is with the increase. She asked if it is really compression issue. She said that she examined the Durham and Wake County salaries and asked if the increase will also help retain talent. Bonnie Hammersley clarified that this comes directly from the ABC Board by statute. She said that if they want to exceed the Clerk of Court salary, statute requires the BOCC approval. Chair Price elaborated that the county has no input on the Clerk of Court's salary and that it is controlled by the state. Commissioner Richards asked if it should be higher than 20%. Chair Price said she does not know if it will enough and that she is still struggling with why the ABC manager's salary is tied to the Clerk of Court salary. Commissioner McKee said the ABC Board is a state board and has no oversight other than members that the BOCC appoints to it. He said that the state limitation in the salary is in effect with this decision and requires the BOCC to override that. He said he does not want to determine whether it's effective or fair because that's for the independent board to decide. He said that his interest is simply determining whether it should exceed Clerk of Court. Commissioner Greene referenced minutes from June 15, 2021. She summarized the discussion. She said she feels she does not have enough information to vote yes. Patrick Burns, ABC Board Chair, said that comparing the General Manager's position to Clerk of Court makes no sense. He said that the ABC system is a retail operation. He said the General Manager is responsible for taking care of employees, building stores, and overseeing functions of a retail business. He said there is a lot of complexity to the position, and it has grown a lot the past few years. He said the last time, in June of 2021, it seems it was looked at as a raise for just one person. He said it is really room for the ABC Board to determine the GM salary and not allowing this will make the compression issue worse. He did say that no one can make more than the General Manager. He said that the ABC Board is trying to get to a point where they can evaluate and compensate and retain employees. He said that the pandemic has increased sales and that those increases have also been shared with contributions to treatment opportunities. He said that they are above the statutory requirement for contributions for