Springfield City Council — December 12, 2022

0:03 I'm going to call the city council reaching our session to order with roll call here here Council rodley here councilor stair here Council Woodrow councilor Pictionary here and councilor Pitts here thank you counselor Woodrow's excuse for the evening please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

0:49 all right first item place first item is a consent calendar I make a motion that we roof intent calendar second Neil could you call the vote please yes counselor Pitts aye no sir Mo yes counselor Radley yes yes answer stair hi answer Woodrow and counselor Pictionary all right motion passes five yeses zero knows one absent next item please next item is business from the city council item a is city manager compensation 2022 and Shane Hertz is here for the staff report but good evening mayor council my name is James Hertz I'm the HR Director here at the City of Springfield um the action I'm requesting today is

1:34 for the council to discuss the city manager compensation as well as ratify a wage increase in your packet there are three attachments one of those is the salary index for comparison we also have a city manager comparison survey which is uh was completed earlier this year and then I also have a city manager a third item which is a third city manager compensation of comparable size for fall of 2022. the city manager's contract indicates that the city council shall give consideration to a wage adjustment on an annual basis to assist in that consideration we've provided a series of documents and information there isn't really a specified method uh your AIS includes four options council is free to

2:22 discuss those four options or select an option that's not included but the goal is to answer any questions that you have and then ultimately all right thank you Leonard uh James um thanks for that report uh what's the projected cost of living increase for this year uh that's a good question I don't know if I have to answer off the top of my head so what we've applied is um or different indexes that we typically would look at and use those those have ranged dramatically between I think depending on which one you look at I've seen it as high as close to nine all the way down to around three or four uh the average one that we've used historically came to a calculation of 5.13 percent

3:07 which was option two in the AIS um which which one of these indexes would apply most closely to our area or do you have an opinion on that uh typically we would look at the Western so either the Western officers and Executives or the Oregon officers and Executives which which would uh average out to about five percent okay um I okay that's all I got right now thank you man uh so I mean I got a bunch of questions but I guess my first one is even though you did a comparison of the cities did

3:54 you do a comparison of the duties uh for these and then I'm also curious what the the city structure is as far as the city manager Council mayor type deal and how that could potentially affect duties so short answer is no uh we looked uh typically speaking from a job description standpoint city manager positions are pretty standard that where we see the specific differences is really is the discretionary budgetary decision making um so for example the City of Eugene structure and with the city managers authorized for Budget spending is different than the charter we have here at the City of Springfield but the overarching day-to-day

4:40 um are roughly about the same when we take a traditional approach we try to look at agencies of comparable size that gives us usually an indication that those positions are fairly similar with the exception of differences in City charters I don't know if I hopefully that answers your question Amy yeah yeah I mean I just you know I'm not opposing anybody getting paid but you know I think the whole word comparable uh uh can be analyzed a lot deeper uh but well I got the floor my other question is uh is this same comparison done for other city employees and if if if not why

5:32 uh so the short answer is yes there's some differences based on the labor unions that we work with so we have five different labor contracts uh and then we have a non-represented group uh all of them are a little bit different in their approach uh primarily in the areas of where we look at um comparable size so with uh our labor contracts that have annual increases that we do we we really narrow that down to a three up three down approach uh and look at it from that perspective and then in our larger Union which is SEIU and our non-wrap we take a very large uh salary survey process that involves a consultant and involves significantly larger numbers of agencies are built into that comparative data but by and

6:18 large we look at population size or population and served size uh and utilize that as our data points for determining where to go and then the rest of it gets into the kind of the bargaining approach of whether or not you're trying to be at average or some range in between plus or minus what that average might look like all right now Joe thank you um shame going to attachment three page one of one that bottom graph and that's that's that's your two up three down comparison yeah so that's looking like that's what I would call a 50 so it's a 50 up and down model yeah

7:04 so I I appreciate that because you know I was reading that that one on attachment two page one of one and I was thinking you know there's some things here that I have some issues with and then I scrolled down and I saw the next page and that put it all back into the ballpark for me um so I appreciate how you did that because I I've asked that question many times to take out some of these other things because it just it's kind of like comparing apples to oranges so uh I like this comparative table and I'm if I'm reading it correctly you were recommending or it's there's not yet not your recommendation but your observation would be that we she's at six point eight four percent below the the average of those folks under the

7:50 total compensation and then she is uh 3.26 behind on the adjusted compensation is that right correct so the adjusted compensation is looking at the cost of Labor Factor um recognizing that the cost of Labor is different and so we have a neutral resource that we pull which is through our Gallery group that helps us pull with that cost of Labor so when we do an adjustment of cost of Labor yeah your correct average to put her uh Nancy at average at 3.26 okay and so then one could extrapolate from this that you're not necessary if if I was to recommend for example a a raise the standard I would use would be one of those two or the two combined

8:37 I would say the standard is something in between yeah yeah so the it gets to the the philosophical art of this which is you know are you comfortable with that particular position being paid at average or does performance um in that role distinguish something other than average right and then of course looking at it and as you can see that there isn't any uh it's not defined by city population and what they're paying their city managers there's a there's some variations within that so population in itself isn't right you own guard so that's why I in this case slid so you can see exactly where the city of Springfield's fit and population yeah and then determine kind of where you

9:22 would want to be uh and of course what I try to do which is provide pure data in those options and so these are I appreciate that it makes it makes it at least for me it makes it pretty easy to understand and um based on uh and I think we can go ahead and enter into discussions correct now Sean is that right yes if you're thinking about a number now to throw it and throw it out there yeah no I am thinking of a number and I think that that based on the evaluation material that I've seen and written and have read and my observations of her performance that I'm comfortable with with the uh six percent on the upper end of that increase

10:08 and where that six percent drops into would be something that I would like to defer to recommendations from shame because I know that there are some different tax implications in regards to some of those categories I.E for example the the stipend for the car is taxed at us at a particular rate or maybe even a purse pickup so or or look towards uh Nancy in regards to if she was to see a six percent raise how that would the she would like to see that dropped into her bucket all right does anybody want to navigate that that set of questions yeah so just for clarity and adding some ease to the

10:54 conversation um the really the two options that you have are whether or not you want to put it purely in wage or you want to uh mix that with a Deferred Comp contribution versus the purse pickup just from a Clarity standpoint I provided the average data and you can see that from a Deferred Comp perspective um Below in that and certainly with the wage change that's going to increase that that number um I just wanted to put contacts I just really staying within those two would be the easiest approach yeah and I appreciate that so I would I would entertain doing the increase of the six percent and putting a portion of that to bring hers a herd referred comp contribution up to around at least lake

11:40 oswego's level or maybe halfway between Grants Pass and Lake Oswego in that in that area and that way it would be tax-free it wouldn't be taxed for her all right um yeah and then we're looking at the map um well and just sort of got to it because I was gonna my question was really gonna be and I'm trying to remember what we did last year and I don't know what we did last year so um is that you know the numbers that we're given were really just around just like what would be the the just Cost of Living adjustment not taking into account any sort of Merit and so this is

12:27 sort of my first time around this what have we historically done in terms of how we think about it or have we done it like every single year we've probably done it differently every single year um Jim do you have the last year number uh I don't it was smaller um we've definitely seen a big Market shift I want to say it was around three percent but I don't remember the exactly that's my recollection Sean was is right around that three to four percent area and I think I think two and and Corey it's uh I'm glad you brought that up because it's we've kind of uh melded with two together and not saying okay you're gonna get a cola increase and oh by the way your merit's gonna be this I think I think we um brought them together keep in mind what cola is kind

13:13 of the lower end no less than and then look at the rest and that's why I went with the six percent because basically it's the coal is not going to probably that high be about between probably three and four so this is up and above you know over and above that based on Merit for me that's that's where I'm coming from well I guess this is regular meetings yeah it keeps you keep jumping in here Corey I guess we're not over session anymore yeah so do you have other questions yeah I just have a follow-up question sure a comment really in that um if I rule the world I would love to love to marry it really is that there's some incentive in this reward for like I'm doing a great job so it goes above and beyond a cola which I appreciate

13:58 um I also I'm like is six seven percent you know in terms of what we do when we do the math okay and then I'll sit back Leonard so um what was uh the increase that we gave um Nancy last year can we do we know uh we're uh we are thinking it's between three and four percent okay we did give her a race last year but all right well for sure if I'm remembering correctly the um the cpiu was seven percent last year so to an extent we're trying to make up for a three percent deficit from last year so what I'm uh where where I'm

14:43 going I mean I'm I I I'm I'm acknowledging the five percent that we're averaging out as the cost of living this year but I'm also looking at a three to four percent increase to make up for what happened last year so I'm I'm looking in the uh the the range of uh of option four which is nine uh nine nine percent that's where I'm at all right just Steve uh two and a half years ago or so we did a nationwide search for candidates for our city manager and we interviewed them all and we selected Nancy Newton we did a good job we have the best city manager

15:28 in the world here right now when I look at these values over here at the other cities are paying I think she's worth more than that to us but we do have Financial constraints in the city but I will support the highest number that progressives Council will agree on because I think she's worth it so if I can just interrupt I'm sure she was given the number uh so last year's increase was 5.53 okay so I guess here's my take on it and I I think the Deferred Compensation question is an interesting question and we should probably come back and look at that compared to everybody else but I don't know that we need to solve that tonight and I don't think that when you look at overall con like the overall cost of living like trying to sort of split the

16:15 baby and put uh put some in Deferred Comp and some some in wage would make a like I think we should answer the wage question and then if we want to come back and talk about Deferred Comp in the in the New Year we can do that um I think I'm fine with seven percent uh like here's the reality is that we would you know if we all had a million bucks we would love to reward Nancy more but we have to sort of balance this with um with something that matches what the CPI is drives a little bit of drives a little bit of uh of of Merit and then um and then just broadly speaking right like we've got to understand that you know we're going to navigate through a whole list of you know High Cost of

17:00 Living when it comes to the rest of employees and so taking a very very conservative approach to it will give us a chance to navigate that and be good fiscal stewards not that Nancy's not worth a million bucks but we don't have it sitting around Joe yeah I'm I'm totally fine with seven I just I was just looking at those numbers and trying to find a good spot to land but that's not a problem I'm I'm good with that I like that and so and I want to be kind of clear about my logic and then we can we can open it up to and because Steve you got to put it in a form of emotion here because we're doing both things at the same at the same time

17:48 um I based my logic off of and really awful looking at the looking at the uh attachment one and then you know cut is and then looking at kind of the average plus adding a little bit for merit um Steve I think we're ready do we have some actual numbers here I think we're saying seven percent and I think you can do thank you uh this motion Justin is noticed again all right I would like to make a motion that we approved adjusting the salary of the city manager as agreed upon in this meeting at seven percent

18:36 caller O'Neal yes counselor Pitts aye councilor Mo yes Council Bradley yes counselor stare aye councilor Woodrow and counselor Pictionary I motion passes uh five yeses zero knows one absent next item please um there's no other business from the city council oh no there's there's going to be other business you can it's a public meeting We're Not Gonna the last one of the year and we're like counselor rodley's not gonna let us out out of this um you need a minute no no okay well then I'm gonna then I'm gonna go first oh but you probably know

19:22 what I've been saying you're gonna Trump me I want to go too no you don't even know what anybody else is going to say well okay then I'll go first because I know what I'm gonna say go ahead all right so it is our last meeting of the year and um and I know I've talked to a lot of you folks individually we do have two counselors that are leaving us um you know counselor Pitts and counselor wardrobe and really when when I kind of backed up and I really asked them okay how do you want us to recognize that um the feedback I got was well when we get out of flu season and we won't get out of cold season and we get out of any other respiratory virus that we may all have this season uh they ask us to for

20:08 us to get together and have a small reception to celebrate their contribution but that is most likely going to be in the spring so what I want folks to know is that before we um before we leave that at least acknowledge that folks are going to be leaving us when they when the year comes around and but we'll have a chance to get together when Council wardrobe is feeling a little bit better and that we can organize it in an appropriate way besides that will give you know Public Works time to print the signs all right Corey thank you um and that was perfect you served it up because I just I really wanted to acknowledge both of our outgoing counselors as well and just say a couple of things um this is I'm just ending my second

20:54 year on Council and so this has been the Incarnation of council that I have known and um in my first year I really appreciated serving on the Human Services Commission with counselor Woodrow who you know comes from a different generation of Human Services and has been involved in that a long time and was really helpful to have her be a part of that and she's been ill she hasn't been as much a part of it but it has was it was helpful to serve on that commission with her and I appreciated her perspective and additionally um counselor Pitts who you know was one of my first big votes is that I think we unanimous unanimously appointed counselor Pitts to serve in the interim in Ward one and I think I told folks that I'd worked with them before and we

21:39 often didn't degree but that I really appreciated that disagreement and that has continued as part of the council that we're able to look at things from different perspectives and I will miss both of their contributions and also I'm looking forward to the new incarnation of this Council but I just want to send them off to their next Adventures Joe well good okay so um I do you know Mary Lee and I go back since day one with her because you know her her husband John and I served together on the council before he uh passed away and and merely was on a seat and and her I've got a very good close relationship

22:25 and but then there's Damian so I don't know you know it's it's uh it's been rough kind of a Skip and go but no in all honesty I have really enjoyed uh having him on Council and I'm dismayed that he is not going to he did not run again I was I tried my best um to try to convince him that that would be an amazing smart move but he didn't believe me I'd even I think I tried to bribe him with a barbecue and that didn't work um so anyway Damien I really appreciate you and and I really appreciated our relationship that we struck up during this Council and um I appreciate you you you always um you

23:10 it's clear where you stand and it's clear that that you don't falter from where you stand and I think that that's that's commendable and I respect you for that so at some point when we have this potential you're talking about maybe a spring get together whatnot that I'm gonna personally go and pick Damien up and bring him as long as we're doing a barbecue because I'm not going to attend unless it's a barbecue Oh Oh you mean and you're one of those in your truck I thought you meant actually pick Damien up and not physically no no uh provide transportation that's what I'm at but but I do think what it needs to just just because it needs to be a barbecue and I would I would uh be happy to help cook that in fact I would probably ask Damien to help so

23:56 well thank you it would be it would be for you know the right way to celebrate people by asking them to cook the food absolutely all right so I'm going to mention uh the uh the the quick thing Marilee and I go way back too right like I tell her as a close personal friend and you know she her time here will be really really missed I thought the world of John as well and like it's yeah it it's it's her insight's going to be definitely missed in in this community and you know we're we're going to wish her well off Damien like I've learned a ton from you the last couple of years and I'm Really Gonna Miss some of the later night conver you know conversations about just

24:42 insight and you know different ideas that you had and different things that you were willing to Champion and like Joe said you know I think we were all rooting for you to run again um but it just wasn't in the cards um but like your contributions to this community are definitely appreciated Leonard um thank you mayor um well I um I talked briefly to merrily today um and um sorry the um at the hospital and she uh is uh sends her best uh to everyone and I just want to say that um she was an invaluable bridge to me when I came in um to the council along with Hillary and Sherry and Christine

25:29 um they were very welcoming and you know didn't have to be we're under no obligation to be as as much of a mentor as each of them was and uh and probably merrily of uh um among among them I mean foremost among them um Damien um it's been an honor and a privilege uh your insights have been much welcomed and um I hope wherever you go on from here you'll say that you knew us when thanks all right Steve my turn well I knew John would grow when he was counselor and then when uh pearly became

26:15 counselor Through The Years uh she sure took charge of the third scenario out there and represented them very well and issues the very important I'll miss her at the First of the Year Damien uh gave me an insight into the issues that I didn't know about that I should have known and I thank you for that Debian and I still want to learn from you by the way and I still hope that maybe you call in or contribute to some of the council meetings as a citizen because you know and we don't we need to know that so I thank you very much and I miss you thanks are you sure we want him calling in [Laughter]

27:00 hey you Joe you got to save the jokes for the for for the spring because uh then we'll have a you know tease them and celebrate them again all right any other news or things to share um the only other thing that will be coming your way by email AJ is going to send out a memo that's got committee assignments um for the counselors that will be here plus uh the new counselors in in January uh there will be a date and I don't remember it off the top of my head that if you have that you need to get back to me by if for some reason the scheduling doesn't work the timing works so you're like oh man Sean this is this is something I have no interest in because we have to ratify it on the first

27:46 meeting in January so please I know it's the Christmas season uh and everybody's busy with family but please make five minutes to take a look at it and and validate that it's it looks good for the new year all right with that I think we are done for the evening we will see everybody in January have a merry Christmas we heard

0:03 I'm going to call the city council reaching our session to order with roll call here here Council rodley here councilor stair here Council Woodrow councilor Pictionary here and councilor Pitts here thank you counselor Woodrow's excuse for the evening please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

0:49 all right first item place first item is a consent calendar I make a motion that we roof intent calendar in a second Neil could you call the vote please yes counselor Pitts aye no sir Mo yes counselor Radley yes yes answer stair hi answer Woodrow and counselor Pictionary all right motion passes five yeses zero knows one absent next item please next item is business from the city council item a is city manager compensation 2022 and Shane Hertz is here for the staff report but good evening mayor council my name is James Hertz I'm the HR Director here at the City of Springfield um the action I'm requesting today is

1:34 for the council to discuss the city manager compensation as well as ratify a wage increase in your packet there are three attachments one of those is the salary index for comparison we also have a city manager comparison survey which is uh was completed earlier this year and then I also have a city manager a third item which is a third city manager compensation of comparable size for fall of 2022. the city manager's contract indicates that the city council shall give consideration to a wage adjustment on an annual basis to assist in that consideration we've provided a series of documents and information there isn't really a specified method uh your AIS includes four options council is free to

2:22 discuss those four options or select an option that's not included but the goal is to answer any questions that you have and then ultimately all right thank you Leonard uh James um thanks for that report uh what's the projected cost of living increase for this year uh that's a good question I don't know if I have to answer off the top of my head so what we've applied is um or different indexes that we typically would look at and use those those have ranged dramatically between I think depending on which one you look at I've seen it as high as close to nine all the way down to around three or four uh the average one that we've used historically came to a calculation of 5.13 percent

3:07 which was option two in the AIS um which which one of these indexes would apply most closely to our area or do you have an opinion on that uh typically we would look at the Western so either the Western officers and Executives or the Oregon officers and Executives which which would uh average out to about five percent okay um I okay that's all I got right now thank you man uh so I mean I got a bunch of questions but I guess my first one is even though you did a comparison of the cities did

3:54 you do a comparison of the duties uh for these and then I'm also curious what the the city structure is as far as the city manager Council mayor type deal and how that could potentially affect duties so short answer is no uh we looked uh typically speaking from a job description standpoint city manager positions are pretty standard that where we see the specific differences is really is the discretionary budgetary decision making um so for example the City of Eugene structure and with the city managers authorized for Budget spending is different than the charter we have here at the City of Springfield but the overarching day-to-day

4:40 um are roughly about the same when we take a traditional approach we try to look at agencies of comparable size that gives us usually an indication that those positions are fairly similar with the exception of differences in City charters I don't know if I hopefully that answers your question Amy yeah yeah I mean I just you know I'm not opposing anybody getting paid but you know I think the whole word comparable uh uh can be analyzed a lot deeper uh but well I got the floor my other question is uh is this same comparison done for other city employees and if if if not why

5:32 uh so the short answer is yes there's some differences based on the labor unions that we work with so we have five different labor contracts uh and then we have a non-represented group uh all of them are a little bit different in their approach uh primarily in the areas of where we look at um comparable size so with uh our labor contracts that have annual increases that we do we we really narrow that down to a three up three down approach uh and look at it from that perspective and then in our larger Union which is SEIU and our non-wrap we take a very large uh salary survey process that involves a consultant and involves significantly larger numbers of agencies are built into that comparative data but by and

6:18 large we look at population size or population and served size and utilize that as our data points for determining where to go and then the rest of it gets into the kind of the bargaining approach of whether or not you're trying to be at average or some range in between plus or minus what that average might look like all right now Joe thank you um shame going to attachment three page one of one that bottom graph and that's that's that's your two up three down comparison yeah so that's looking like that's what I would call a 50 so it's a 50 up and down model yeah

7:04 so I I appreciate that because you know I was reading that that one on attachment two page one of one and I was thinking you know there's some things here that I have some issues with and then I scrolled down and I saw the next page and that put it all back into the ballpark for me um so I appreciate how you did that because I I've asked that question many times to take out some of these other things because it just it's kind of like comparing apples to oranges so uh I like this comparative table and I'm if I'm reading it correctly you were recommending or it's there's not yet not your recommendation but your observation would be that we she's at six point eight four percent below the the average of those folks under the

7:50 total compensation and then she is uh 3.26 behind on the adjusted compensation is that right correct so the adjusted compensation is looking at the cost of Labor Factor um recognizing that the cost of Labor is different and so we have a neutral resource that we pull which is through our Gallery group that helps us pull with that cost of Labor so when we do an adjustment of cost of Labor yeah your correct average to put her uh Nancy at average at 3.26 okay and so then one could extrapolate from this that you're not necessary if if I was to recommend for example a a raise the standard I would use would be one of those two or the two combined

8:37 I would say the standard is something in between yeah yeah so the it gets to the the philosophical art of this which is you know are you comfortable with that particular position being paid at average or does performance um in that role distinguish something other than average right and then of course looking at it and as you can see that there isn't any uh it's not defined by city population and what they're paying their city managers there's a there's some variations within that so population in itself isn't right you own guard so that's why I in this case slid so you can see exactly where the city of Springfield's fit and population yeah and then determine kind of where you

9:22 would want to be uh and of course what I try to do which is provide pure data in those options and so these are I appreciate that it makes it makes it at least for me it makes it pretty easy to understand and um based on uh and I think we can go ahead and enter into discussions correct now Sean is that right yes if you're thinking about a number now to throw it and throw it out there yeah no I am thinking of a number and I think that that based on the evaluation material that I've seen and written and have read and my observations of her performance that I'm comfortable with with the uh six percent on the upper end of that increase

10:08 and where that six percent drops into would be something that I would like to defer to recommendations from shame because I know that there are some different tax implications in regards to some of those categories I.E for example the the stipend for the car is taxed at us at a particular rate or maybe even a purse pickup so or or look towards uh Nancy in regards to if she was to see a six percent raise how that would the she would like to see that dropped into her bucket all right does anybody want to navigate that that set of questions yeah so just for clarity and adding some ease to the

10:54 conversation um the really the two options that you have are whether or not you want to put it purely in wage or you want to uh mix that with a Deferred Comp contribution versus the purse pickup just from a Clarity standpoint I provided the average data and you can see that from a Deferred Comp perspective um Below in that and certainly with the wage change that's going to increase that that number um I just wanted to put contacts I just really staying within those two would be the easiest approach yeah and I appreciate that so I would I would entertain doing the increase of the six percent and putting a portion of that to bring hers a herd referred comp contribution up to around at least lake

11:40 oswego's level or maybe halfway between Grants Pass and Lake Oswego in that in that area and that way it would be tax-free it wouldn't be taxed for her all right um yeah and then we're looking at the map um well and just sort of got to it because I was gonna my question was really gonna be and I'm trying to remember what we did last year and I don't know what we did last year so um is that you know the numbers that we're given were really just around just like what would be the the just Cost of Living adjustment not taking into account any sort of Merit and so this is

12:27 sort of my first time around this what have we historically done in terms of how we think about it or have we done it like every single year we've probably done it differently every single year um Jim do you have the last year number uh I don't it was smaller um we've definitely seen a big Market shift I want to say it was around three percent but I don't remember the exactly that's my recollection Sean was is right around that three to four percent area and I think I think two and and Corey it's uh I'm glad you brought that up because it's we've kind of uh melded with two together and not saying okay you're gonna get a cola increase and oh by the way your merit's gonna be this I think I think we um brought them together keep in mind what cola is kind

13:13 of the lower end no less than and then look at the rest and that's why I went with the six percent because basically it's the coal is not going to probably that high be about between probably three and four so this is up and above you know over and above that based on Merit for me that's that's where I'm coming from well I guess this is regular meetings yeah it keeps you keep jumping in here Corey I guess we're not over session anymore yeah so do you have other questions yeah I just have a follow-up question sure a comment really in that um if I rule the world I would love to love to marry it really is that there's some incentive in this reward for like I'm doing a great job so it goes above and beyond a cola which I appreciate

13:58 um I also I'm like is six seven percent you know in terms of what we do when we do the math okay and then I'll sit back Leonard so um what was uh the increase that we gave um Nancy last year can we do we know uh we're uh we are thinking it's between three and four percent okay we did give her a race last year but all right well for sure if I'm remembering correctly the um the cpiu was seven percent last year so to an extent we're trying to make up for a three percent deficit from last year so what I'm uh where where I'm

14:43 going I mean I'm I I I'm I'm acknowledging the five percent that we're averaging out as the cost of living this year but I'm also looking at a three to four percent increase to make up for what happened last year so I'm I'm looking in the uh the the range of uh of option four which is nine uh nine nine percent that's where I'm at all right just Steve uh two and a half years ago or so we did a nationwide search for candidates for our city manager and we interviewed them all and we selected Nancy Newton we did a good job we have the best city manager

15:28 in the world here right now when I look at these values over here at the other cities are paying I think she's worth more than that to us but we do have Financial constraints in the city but I will support the highest number that progressives Council will agree on because I think she's worth it so if I can just interrupt I'm sure she was given the number uh so last year's increase was 5.53 okay so I guess here's my take on it and I I think the Deferred Compensation question is an interesting question and we should probably come back and look at that compared to everybody else but I don't know that we need to solve that tonight and I don't think that when you look at overall con like the overall cost of living like trying to sort of split the

16:15 baby and put uh put some in Deferred Comp and some some in wage would make a like I think we should answer the wage question and then if we want to come back and talk about Deferred Comp in the in the New Year we can do that um I think I'm fine with seven percent uh like here's the reality is that we would you know if we all had a million bucks we would love to reward Nancy more but we have to sort of balance this with um with something that matches what the CPI is drives a little bit of drives a little bit of uh of of Merit and then um and then just broadly speaking right like we've got to understand that you know we're going to navigate through a whole list of you know High Cost of

17:00 Living when it comes to the rest of employees and so taking a very very conservative approach to it will give us a chance to navigate that and be good fiscal stewards not that Nancy's not worth a million bucks but we don't have it sitting around Joe yeah I'm I'm totally fine with seven I just I was just looking at those numbers and trying to find a good spot to land but that's not a problem I'm I'm good with that I like that and so and I want to be kind of clear about my logic and then we can we can open it up to and because Steve you got to put it in a form of emotion here because we're doing both things at the same at the same time

17:48 um I based my logic off of and really awful looking at the looking at the uh attachment one and then you know cut is and then looking at kind of the average plus adding a little bit for merit um Steve I think we're ready do we have some actual numbers here I think we're saying seven percent and I think you can do thank you uh this motion Justin is noticed again all right I would like to make a motion that we approved adjusting the salary of the city manager as agreed upon in this meeting at seven percent

18:36 caller O'Neal yes counselor Pitts aye councilor Mo yes Council Bradley yes counselor stare aye councilor Woodrow and counselor Pictionary I motion passes uh five yeses zero knows one absent next item please um there's no other business from the city council oh no there's there's going to be other business you can it's a public meeting We're Not Gonna the last one of the year and we're like counselor rodley's not gonna let us out out of this um you need a minute no no okay well then I'm gonna then I'm gonna go first oh but you probably know

19:22 what I've been saying you're gonna Trump me I want to go too no you don't even know what anybody else is going to say well okay then I'll go first because I know what I'm gonna say go ahead all right so it is our last meeting of the year and um and I know I've talked to a lot of you folks individually we do have two counselors that are leaving us um you know counselor Pitts and counselor wardrobe and really when when I kind of backed up and I really asked them okay how do you want us to recognize that um the feedback I got was well when we get out of flu season and we won't get out of cold season and we get out of any other respiratory virus that we may all have this season uh they ask us to for

20:08 us to get together and have a small reception to celebrate their contribution but that is most likely going to be in the spring so what I want folks to know is that before we um before we leave that at least acknowledge that folks are going to be leaving us when they when the year comes around and but we'll have a chance to get together when Council wardrobe is feeling a little bit better and that we can organize it in an appropriate way besides that will give you know Public Works time to print the signs all right Corey thank you um and that was perfect you served it up because I just I really wanted to acknowledge both of our outgoing counselors as well and just say a couple of things um this is I'm just ending my second

20:54 year on Council and so this has been the Incarnation of council that I have known and um in my first year I really appreciated serving on the Human Services Commission with counselor Woodrow who you know comes from a different generation of Human Services and has been involved in that a long time and was really helpful to have her be a part of that and she's been ill she hasn't been as much a part of it but it has was it was helpful to serve on that commission with her and I appreciated her perspective and additionally um counselor Pitts who you know was one of my first big votes is that I think we unanimous unanimously appointed counselor Pitts to serve in the interim in Ward one and I think I told folks that I'd worked with them before and we

21:39 often didn't degree but that I really appreciated that disagreement and that has continued as part of the council that we're able to look at things from different perspectives and I will miss both of their contributions and also I'm looking forward to the new incarnation of this Council but I just want to send them off to their next Adventures Joe well good okay so um I do you know Mary Lee and I go back since day one with her because you know her her husband John and I served together on the council before he uh passed away and and merely was on a seat and and her I've got a very good close relationship

22:25 and but then there's Damian so I don't know you know it's it's uh it's been rough kind of a Skip and go but no in all honesty I have really enjoyed uh having him on Council and I'm dismayed that he is not going to he did not run again I was I tried my best um to try to convince him that that would be an amazing smart move but he didn't believe me I'd even I think I tried to bribe him with a barbecue and that didn't work um so anyway Damien I really appreciate you and and I really appreciated our relationship that we struck up during this Council and um I appreciate you you you always um you

23:10 it's clear where you stand and it's clear that that you don't falter from where you stand and I think that that's that's commendable and I respect you for that so at some point when we have this potential you're talking about maybe a spring get together whatnot that I'm gonna personally go and pick Damien up and bring him as long as we're doing a barbecue because I'm not going to attend unless it's a barbecue Oh Oh you mean and you're one of those in your truck I thought you meant actually pick Damien up and not physically no no uh provide transportation that's what I'm at but but I do think what it needs to just just because it needs to be a barbecue and I would I would uh be happy to help cook that in fact I would probably ask Damien to help so

23:56 well thank you it would be it would be for you know the right way to celebrate people by asking them to cook the food absolutely all right so I'm going to mention uh the uh the the quick thing Marilee and I go way back too right like I tell her as a close personal friend and you know she her time here will be really really missed I thought the world of John as well and like it's yeah it it's it's her insight's going to be definitely missed in in this community and you know we're we're going to wish her well off Damien like I've learned a ton from you the last couple of years and I'm Really Gonna Miss some of the later night conver you know conversations about just

24:42 insight and you know different ideas that you had and different things that you were willing to Champion and like Joe said you know I think we were all rooting for you to run again um but it just wasn't in the cards um but like your contributions to this community are definitely appreciated Leonard um thank you mayor um well I um I talked briefly to merrily today um and um sorry the um at the hospital and she uh is uh sends her best uh to everyone and I just want to say that um she was an invaluable bridge to me when I came in um to the council along with Hillary and Sherry and Christine

25:29 um they were very welcoming and you know didn't have to be we're under no obligation to be as as much of a mentor as each of them was and uh and probably merrily of uh um among among them I mean foremost among them um Damien um it's been an honor and a privilege uh your insights have been much welcomed and um I hope wherever you go on from here you'll say that you knew us when thanks all right Steve my turn well I knew John would grow when he was counselor and then when uh pearly became

26:15 counselor Through The Years uh she sure took charge of the third scenario out there and represented them very well and issues the very important I'll miss her at the First of the Year Damien uh gave me an insight into the issues that I didn't know about that I should have known and I thank you for that Debian and I still want to learn from you by the way and I still hope that maybe you call in or contribute to some of the council meetings as a citizen because you know and we don't we need to know that so I thank you very much and I miss you thanks are you sure we want him calling in [Laughter]

27:00 hey you Joe you got to save the jokes for the for for the spring because uh then we'll have a you know tease them and celebrate them again all right any other news or things to share um the only other thing that will be coming your way by email AJ is going to send out a memo that's got committee assignments um for the counselors that will be here plus uh the new counselors in in January uh there will be a date and I don't remember it off the top of my head that if you have that you need to get back to me by if for some reason the scheduling doesn't work the timing works so you're like oh man Sean this is this is something I have no interest in because we have to ratify it on the first

27:46 meeting in January so please I know it's the Christmas season uh and everybody's busy with family but please make five minutes to take a look at it and and validate that it's it looks good for the new year all right with that I think we are done for the evening we will see everybody in January have a merry Christmas we heard