Mount Vernon City Council members said they had too little time during their Dec. 27 meeting to consider proposed legislation that would give nonbargaining employees a 5% raise over two years.
The council held a lengthy committee meeting that covered a proposed bonus for those employees, also voted down during the legislative session [See separate story at right.]
Auditor Terry Scott projected a 5% pay increase, with half of that for 2021 and the other half for 2022.
Council discussed the compensation proposal briefly in a committee meeting before the legislative session. Councilmember Samantha Scoles decided not to ask to add it to the agenda for a vote.
“As much as I hate to see this happen, I think we need to not add any of this on the agenda tonight,” she said. “And let's get the legislation right. Let's get everybody on the same page and you guys can take this up to January with new council.”
Scoles had proposed the fire chief be paid more than the police chief, recognizing the addition of coverage for Gambier College Township and the hiring of 20 to 24 part-time firefighters.
The fire chief also works with one administrative secretary and two administrative staff: the fire prevention officer and EMS coordinator, she said. The police department has a different structure, with a chief, a captain, two administrative staffers and two administrative secretaries.
“In my mind, I think that there's a lot more responsibility that's laid on our fire chief,” Scoles said.
She suggested that the police chief and police captain get the 5% pay increase that the rest of the nonbargaining employees would receive.
Fire Chief Chad Christopher also would get the 5% raise, but with an additional 3% increase because of his added responsibilities. The fire chief’s salary would rise to $88,339.08.
“There’s no way to discuss it in half an hour and get this done,” Councilmember Tammy Woods said.
She asked Scott to explain how longevity worked.
Previous ordinances drafted for hourly employees always reflected a part of the collective bargaining agreement, Scott said, but he pulled that language out of the current ordinance, as it wasn’t appropriate.
“I pulled it out and actually pasted it in what we're really doing,” he said.
It takes an employee five years to reach longevity. At the end of those five years, an hourly employee would get 8 cents added to his or her hourly pay. At every work anniversary after that, another 5 cents per hour would be added.
The largest longevity pay amount on the city’s books was $1.13 per hour, he said.
Councilmembers discussed overtime pay and how some firefighters had high earnings.
Council President Bruce Hawkins said when he first came on council, he was shocked to find out some firefighters were making more than the fire chief. Hiring one firefighter helped fix that.
Councilmember Mike Hillier said when he first came to office, some firefighters were calling off work so another firefighter would get overtime hours to cover their shift.
“We had firemen making over $100,000 a year due to playing the overtime game. And we hired six firemen that took care of that,” he said.
