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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP October 11, 1984 ~ 01 ANDOVER SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING - OCTOBER 11, 1984 MINUTES A Special Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Jerry Windschitl on October 11, 1984, 8:10 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Anoka, Minnesota, to hold a review of the City Clerk/Acting Administrator and City Engineer plus determine merit increases for employees. Councilmen present: Elling, Knight, Lachinski, Orttel (arrived at 8:57 p.m.) Councilmen absent: None Also present: City Engineer, James Schrantz; and City Clerk/A. Administrator, P. K. Lindquist Council first met with Ms. Lindquist, generally praising her for the improvement in attitude and relations with the public by the office staff. Council also felt she was doing a good job administratively. Ms. Lindquist stated her objectives are to 1) obtain an even better resident contact by the staff and to have the staff become better acquainted with the ordinaòces, 2) have information on each parcel in the City condensed ònto cards and ultimately onto a computer, and 3) begin using a computer for billings, etc. Council generally agreed with those objectives and discussed various means by which the third objective could be implemented. The general feeling was that a small personal computer would not be adequate for the City and that it would need to be a system that would be compatibJë with the County's system. After some discussion, it was agreed this item should be discussed in greater depth, possibly at a special meeting in the future. The Council then met with Mr. Schrantz, generally praising him for the efforts he puts forth and the quality of work performed. One area of concern in the future was to see if Mr. Schrantz could delegate some of the work to allow him more time for management or supervision, especially for summer work. Mr. Schrantz stated he has started doing some of that with Dave Almgren coming to Planning'.Commission Meetings and delegating more responsibilities to Frank Stone. Council was also concerned that the great deal of complaining in the Public Works Department be ended. Mr. Schrantz stated he has met with all the Public Works employees and is working on defining goals and attitudes. He felt a lot of the complaining has been eliminated. He felt he spends most of his time on "people things" and believes he does very little engineering but mostly administrative and public relations. Mr. Schrantz then reviewed a lengthy list of accomplishments this year in streets, parks, sanitary sewer and water maintenance, plus supervising 8,000 hours of free help for the City through various programs. He also listed some of the things he didn't get done that he will continue to work on. In discussing the salaries of the Public Works employees, Mr. Schrantz stated he and Mr. Stone have been discussing formal performance evaluations on a periodic basis. He also felt that all the Public Works employees are underpaid and especially recommended the two Public Works III people be called Public Works II and get a $l/hour increase for 1985. Mr. Schrantz disagreed with the classification of the employees proposed by the Clerk in Public Works, stating none of the Public Works employees are "unskilled", that they are all expected to be able to perform all functions and are trained to do so. He also argued that in Mr. Stone's case, the 5 percent increase should be based on his base salary just like all the other employees, and not on his base salary plus overtime shown in the Clerk's recommendation. Council agreed and noted that Mr. Stone's base salary is $24,742 for 1984. Special City Council Meeting October 11, 1984 - Minutes Page 2 Council then spent the next several hours discussing how the $7,500 remaining in the budget for merit increases should be assigned (NOTE a 5 percent across-the-board increase for 1985 has already been approved for all employees), on the duties and performance of the City employees, and on establishing a better and equitable method of salary adjustment so it wouldn't be so time consuming in future years. Mayor Windschitl suggested the Clerk, City Engineer, Frank Stone, and Dave Almgren each be given a specific increase at this time and the remaining amount be put in a pool to be given as bonuses at the end of the year, the amount of that bonus to be based on the employee's performance throughout the year. Council discussed the pros and cons of the suggestion, but it appeared there was not a majority in favor of that proposal. Discussion was then on what it would take to establish ranges for each position, steps within each range, and how those ranqes would be adjusted to keep pace with inflation. There was some disagreement as to whether just an average salary should be established for each position or whether the entire range with hi9h and low amounts should be established. It was noted that the Personnel Committee had made a recommendation for ranges several years ago, but it was rejected by the Council at that time. Mayor Windschitl asked Councilmen Elling and Knight to work on a proposal for salary ranges for each position to simplify the decision making on merit increases every year. One of the problems the Council foresaw was the equal-pay law implemented by the State Legislature to begin January, 1986. It may mean that a large upward adjustment will be made for some employees and could even mean a downward adjustment for others. Because of those adjustments, there may be little or nothing left for increases for other employees that year. Council then reviewed the salary adjustments recommended by the City Clerk in the 1985 budget, the percentages noted of present salary over or under the 1984 mean salary of that position according to the Stanton Report, and the current hourly ranges of the employees. MOTION by Orttel, Seconded by Knight, that we allocate salaries this evening for Jim (Schrantz) and Pat (Lindquist) and leave the allowance for merit increases for the rest of the employees up to their supervisors. After further discussions on what those amounts should be, Councilmen Knight and Orttel WITHDREW the Second and the Motion. Discussion was then on the salary adjustment for the Recording Secretary. MOTION by Lachinski, Seconded by Elling, that we increase the Recording Secretary's salary for 1985 to $70 up to 11 o'clock for meetings, and to $18 per hour thereafter. Motion carried unanimously. This amounts to an increase of approximately 6 percent. Discussion returned to the increases for the remaining employees. The increases were based on percentage increases, amounts similiar to what the Clerk had recommended to bring the salary more in line with similiar positions in other cities, or incentives for improvement. The following increases as recommended by the Council were read back by the secretary: Special City Council Meeting October 11, 1984 - Minutes Page 3 Jim Schrantz $1,460 Pat Lindquist 1,400 Dave Almgren 500 Frank Stone 500 Dale Mashuga 1,040 Kevin Starr 1,040 Ray Sowada 150 Lo 1 a Li ndqu i st 500 Vicki Volk 150 Shirley Clinton 650 MOTION by Orttel, Seconded by Lachinski, that the figures as discussed and just read by the Reco~ding Secretary be agopted as the merit raises for 19S5 for City employees. Motion carried unanimously. MOTION by Lachinski, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 12:05 a.m. Respectfully submitted, '\ ~ - ,\ \ ',. ---- \ ~~lf~'-";. J;e~c~\ v: 1____ Recording Secretary