Minutes 05-26-2022 Budget Work Session

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43 Commissioner McKee asked to return to the vacancies in departments slide (#52) and said it seems to be concentrated in certain areas. He asked for reasons for these separations. He asked if it was work related or if there is any way to isolate why. Brenda Bartholomew said that she can speak to the Human Resources Department because they are high on the list. She said that some of them were retirement, and some were for personal reasons, but a lot of staff are making decisions related to work-life balance that they never did before. She said that if you look at the rates through the pandemic, they were relatively stable. She said that towards the end of pandemic, you see more that have left. She said there are some salary issues that have employees leaving and there are personal reasons as well. Commissioner McKee said a lot of the areas have an intense interaction with the public and that seems to correlate to the high vacancies. Travis Myren said these positions also continued during the pandemic. Brenda Bartholomew said they are looking more closely at classification and trying to determine the causes. She said they are looking at step program for other areas that may work. Commissioner McKee asked if there is a way to look at past two years for the same information. Brenda Bartholomew said yes. Commissioner McKee said it would be interested to see if this trend continued in the previous years because of the interaction with public. Travis Myren said staff will get some prior year data together. Brenda Bartholomew said she has the data and will provide. Chair Price said from year one to year two in the step schedule, there is an increase of around $60 per year for the public safety. She asked if that was typical. Brenda Bartholomew clarified that the step charts are designed, particularly with emergency services, with a 3.75% increase each year, then at 5-8 years, increases are grouped. She said that after the 10-year mark that followed the longevity schedule there were decreases in some percentages. She said that some employees also receive longevity pay after 10 years in addition to what can be seen on the step schedule. Bonnie Hammersley said she is looking at the deputy position and there is a difference of $60 on the year. Brenda Bartholomew said she is still working with the Sheriff's Office to get charts more specific. She said $60 does sound small. She said that it should follow the same process with a percentage differential each year. Bonnie Hammersley said this chart is not correct and staff will correct. Chair Price asked about cost-of-living increases. Bonnie Hammersley said that would be in addition to the step programs. Brenda Bartholomew said the emergency services chart is compared to what would be done on July 1, but the Sheriff's Office was made in December before the increase. She said each year it would reflect the percentage increases. Commissioner Hamilton asked what happens when people come from organizations with years of service. Brenda Bartholomew said there are options such as transferring their time or having the ability to have some discretionary hire for that experience coming through the door. She said that a Durham employee of 10 years and Orange County employee of 10 years may not have the same salary, but when there is discretion to hire coming in the door, then they will join in the step program after the first year. Commissioner Hamilton asked if they complete a year of probationary employment before joining the step plan.