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2023.09.11 Special City Council MinutesSPECIAL OTSEGO CITY COUNCIL MEETING MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 5:30 PM OTSEGO PRAIRIE CENTER Call to Order: Mayor Stockamp called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. Roll Call: Mayor Jessica Stockamp and Councilmembers: Jeff Dahl, Tina Goede, Brittany Moores, and Ryan Dunlap. City Staff: City Administrator/Finance Director Adam Flaherty, Assistant City Administrator/Human Resources Hille, City Planner Daniel Licht, and City Clerk Audra Etzel. Attended via video conference (*). 1. Classification and Compensation Study — Progress Report. Michael Mooney and Leah Davis (*) from Abdo reviewed the 2023 Classification and Compensation Study packet information and presentation. Mayor Stoclamp asked why recommend going from 9 steps to 7 steps? Mooney said this would be a retention tool to motivate employees to stay and grow within the City. Dunlap asked when steps are given to an employee? Assistant City Administrator/Human Resources Hille said a step is typically given on the employee's anniversary. CM Dunlap asked why the current pay is so far off? Mooney said it depends on the market place adjustments and COLA's. CM Moores asked now to avoid falling behind in the future. Mooney said to keep up with the market data. CM Stoclamp asked about the classification study and how to explain to the employees? Mooney said in the post implementation review, Abdo will discuss options with Flaherty and Hille. Davis said it is important for leadership to understand the process to be able to explain to the employees. Mooney said information regarding the other cities benefits such as holidays and time -off will be provided to Hille and Flaherty for their review. If the City wanted to review additional benefits this would be another service. City Council discussed how to offer a benefit to long time employees, such as longevity pay. The option for an employee to earn more after the seventh step would be to take on more responsibility or a new position within the City. CM Goede asked what can be offered to those employees that at are the top of their pay scale, offer additional PTO? CM Dunlap asked about offering long term incentives. Flaherty asked for time to come back with more ideas. Davis said Page 1 of 4 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OTSEGO SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 public employees are looking for ways to keep employees and said there are a couple options that will need to be researched. Mayor Stocl<amp asked about the changes to employees. Mooney said each position is aligned to the market data and employees will be impacted differently. Davis said no employee will go backwards. Hille said a notice of the rate change would be provided in writing to each employee. Flaherty said staff is looking for direction to adopt the new proposed scoring and step increases. CM Dunlap asked about the funds being budgeted in 2023. Flaherty said there are contingency funds that could be allocated for the 2023 increases. Mooney said the proposed Phase 1 and 2 recommended in 2023 are in line with the goal to be competitive with the market data. CM Moores thanked Abdo for the information laid out and easy to follow. CM Goede thought the information was well Mooney said the City is in compliance for pay equity with the current pay scale. Mooney noted there are four series of tests, employees are compared by male and female positions pay to see if the city is in compliance. Mooney noted that Abdo's recommendation to the City Council is to accept the proposed pay pIan and position scoring. CM Moores motioned to continue the special meeting after the regular meeting at 6:52 PM, seconded by CM Goede. All in favor. Motion carried 5-0. CM Dahl motioned to continue the meeting at 8:18 PM, seconded by CM Goede. All in favor. Motion carried 5-0. Streets Operation Manager Kevin Lamson and Sergeant Jason Oltmanns joined the meeting. 2. City Campus Projects —Progress Report. Wold Architects representative Jonathan Loose reviewed the City Campus open house materials. Mr. Loose presented a conceptual drawing of the north entrance of the proposed City Hall and is looking for feedback from City Council. City Council agreed the drawing is an improvement to their vision. Mr. Loose said the architecture will draw visitors to the entrance. Mr. Loose said staff will take comments and feedback at the open house and staff will be available at stations to answer questions. City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty noted information regarding the City Campus Project will be available at the Prairie Festival. Page 2 of 4 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OTSEGO SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 Jonathan Loose, Kevin Lamson, Jason Oltmanns, and Dan Licht left at 8:47 pm. Continuation of Classification and Compensation Study — Progress Report. Hille is proposing an October 1st implementation for approval at the October 9th City Council meeting to approve the position scoring, pay plan, and implementation schedule. City Council agreed that will all the information presented and want all the employees to receive the same information. Flaherty noted employees will receive the information. Hille and Flaherty will coordinate with Abdo to present the information to staff. Flaherty will provide City Council with a breakdown by departments of the proposed implementation. The 2024 COLA does not need to be determined until a future meeting but would recommend implementation of the recommendation from Abdo. The City Council discussed the implementation options and agreed to consider adoption at the October 9 meeting. . 3. 2024 Budget, Tax Levy and Capital Improvement Plan Review. City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty reviewed the revised revenue amortization for the Public Safety Aid and how it will offset the levy increase for law enforcement contracts in 2024. The City Council concurred with the information presented. Flaherty reviewed historical budget and actual amounts for the Contingency line item. The City Council concurred to reduce the line item from 560,000 to 515,000 and will evaluate in future years. Flaherty reviewed the tax levy summary included in the packet. He noted that the tax capacity information has been updated since the last meeting based on new information from Wright County. He also noted that the market value exclusion legislative change will not impact values payable 2024 but will for values payable 2025. Staff will prepare a resolution to adopt the preliminary budget at the September 25th meeting and is looking for direction on the amount to include in the resolution. The City Council discussed and the majority agreed with the full year 1 principal and transfer (yellow) to be included in the resolution. CM Dunlap does not agree with the tax levy percentage increases and is not in favor of bonding for the City Campus Project, he would support if the project was a referendum. Flaherty noted the preliminary levy can be lowered before the Truth in Taxation Hearing in December. Flaherty proved an updates regarding a Street Maintenance hire. Staff is recommending hiring two street maintenance candidates to fill a Known employee retirement. City Council agreed Page 3 of 4 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OTSEGO SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 with offering the position to two qualified candidates based on the information. Hille would bring the recommendations for hire to the next City Council meeting. 4. Adjourn. CM Moores motioned to close the meeting at 9#54 PM, seconded by CM Goede. All in favor. Motion carried 5-0. ATTEST. Audra Etzel, City Clerk Jessica Stockamp, Mayor Page 4 of 4