Columbus City Council has given final approval to an ordinance establishing pay ranges for city workers, a move that is intended to help with recruitment and retention efforts.
The council voted 6-0 Tuesday to pass the salary ordinance that puts into place minimum, midpoint and maximum pay levels for positions across the city. City Councilman Tim Shuffett was absent from the meeting.
The city hired a McCordsville-based firm, Total Reward Solutions, to evaluate the salaries of city employees using other municipalities as a comparison, finance director Jamie Brinegar said.
The salary ordinance considered by the council was developed as a result of the salary compensation study, for which Toward Reward Solutions was paid more than $72,000, Brinegar said.
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Bryan Bailey, president of the Local 2190 Professional Firefighters Union of Indiana, was among more than a dozen firefighters at the meeting.
Bailey thanked the council for considering the salary ordinance, and said he thought it would help with recruitment and retention efforts since the fire department has lost some experienced firefighters to other agencies.
“It’s all good for the employees and for the city,” council president Frank Miller said.
The city will focus on bringing public safety employees to the midpoint level over the next two years, while other city employees will be brought to that level over the next three years, Brinegar said. Raises will based on employee performance evaluations, he said.
Former Bartholomew County Sheriff Kenny Whipker also addressed the council and said the salary ordinance should allow the city to retain public safety employees. Under its previous salary ordinance, the city had minimum and maximum pay ranges in place for city positions.
The salary ordinance drew scrutiny from three city residents at the previous council meeting two weeks ago, but those concerns were not raised Tuesday.
Miller said after the meeting that the ordinance establishing minimum, midpoint and maximum pay levels will be a benefit.
“On the (public) safety side, it will definitely keep our safety departments staffed,” Miller said. “We just want to make sure we’re paying the right amount for our employees and this accomplishes that.”
The city plans to budget to the midpoint for city employee positions, he said.
The council also gave final approval to 3 percent pay increases for elected officials in 2019. That will apply to Mayor Jim Lienhoop, Clerk-Treasurer Luann Welmer and the seven city council members.
Those salary increases will cost the city $6,774, Brinegar said earlier this month.
A year ago, the council voted to give elected officials and city employees 2 percent raises for this year.
Meanwhile, the council approved the final reading of an ordinance appropriating $120,683 for a men’s residential substance abuse treatment program known as REALM, an acronym for Recovery Enables a Life for Men.
The program being offered through the county’s Community Corrections Center is being funded through a 50/50 split with Bartholomew County government. the funds will cover program expenses for the remainder of this year and all of 2019.
