Much progress has been made on two major issues facing North Ogden City (NOC): the Employee Compensation Plan & the Public Works Facility. Concerning Employee Compensation, Council Member (CM) Brent Taylor observed that, “this is an issue I care a lot about and think the greatest value is that an external source prepared the information.” This was in reference to the volunteer employee compensation committee composed of NOC citizens headed by Neal Berube. In providing his report, Neal recognized Annette Spendlove (HR director & City recorder) and Brian Steele (finance director) and said, “They have been very passionate about helping the Committee accomplish their tasks… and are evidence of the great asset the City has in their employees.” Neal recounted their original mission from the City Council (CC) was “to know, without any bias, whether the employees were being paid fairly... for an objective view… from independent eyes.” He believes they “accomplished that” and performed an extensive comparative analysis with other cities and some in the private sector.
Neal observed that the CC has “done a very fine job over the last couple of years keeping the City fiscally strong… by using cost containment strategies relative to the employees.” They observed that the recent “turnover rate in the last couple of years has been higher than the City has been accustomed to in the past, but … not significantly out of line with… the business community.” Neal stressed, “The Committee feels that one of the things that should be considered by the City is a retention strategy and that is different than a cost containment strategy.” He emphasized that, “There are a number of employees in the City… employed for a number of years… proficient at doing their jobs… and can take some incentive for people to move to a new position.” He summarized by saying, “Generally, the Committee found that the Council can surely look at their constituents and say that they are not overpaying employees… from where they sit, the Council probably has some work to put in… to get employees closer to market pay.” With regards to benefits, he said, “The public sector has a higher amount of benefits than the private sector.” However, “the amount the City pays for insurance premiums is not out of line…with what is generally seen in the private sector… with health care costs… accelerating at a much faster pace than salaries.”
CM Taylor commented that their report “data shows the caliber of management the City has.” He acknowledged, “City salaries are low and that shows the kind of team players the employees have been… through the economic downturn, the recession, and difficult budgets where there have not been opportunities to give wage increases… they have stayed positive throughout bad budget time and rough years for the City.” Additionally, CM Taylor “looks forward to making upward adjustments to retain the good employees.”
With regards to the Public Works Facility (PWF) Brian Steele, Finance Director, reported that “there is $1.2 million from enterprise funds and $1.3 million from the capital projects fund… available.” This totals $2.5 million dollars cash on hand. City Manager, Ron Chandler, clarified that the “biggest chunk of the amount ($711,000 from capital projects) came from the redevelopment agency (RDA)… who owed that amount to the general fund for several years.” Mayor Richard Harris added that “for the past several years the City has not spent much on capital improvement projects out of the general fund.” Meanwhile, CM Taylor indicated “a total project budget of $3.75 million” for the PWF with approximately “$1.5 million to be financed.” CM Justin Fawson was in agreement with slightly different numbers but a “total project ceiling would be $3 million.” Both liked the idea of “short term financing” to avoid the need for bonding or long term debt. CM Cheryl Stoker stated she is “opposed to bonding because… the vote for a bond is never successful” and she “does not think it is necessary to bond for the PWF.” The Committee Chair for the PWF, Brent Chugg, added, “There are some companies… who would help with the land prep work free of charge… to help the community and public works employees will also be used to do the prep work.” Brent indicated that “the project will be somewhere in the $2 million (range) and that is for the facility that PWF director, Mel Blanchard asked for.”
