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Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Meeting Minutes <br />July 13, 2021 <br />Page 5 <br /> <br /> <br /> Ms. Slominski presented the update from the Wage & Benefit Committee (W&BC) <br />proposing the institution of longevity pay and changes to the vacation accrual based on a <br />request from an employee group. <br /> <br /> Ms. Slominski also handed out a statement from the employee group in response to the <br />proposed changes to the longevity pay program, asking for fixed rates rather than a <br />percentage of salary, retroactive longevity pay for employees who previously passed <br />milestones in the program, and beginning longevity pay at six years rather than the eight <br />years recommended by the W&BC. The Commission did not reach consensus on the <br />requested changes from the employee group, opting instead to wait until after the open <br />W&BC meeting occurring the following month where employees can address the <br />Committee. <br /> <br /> Commissioner Westgaard had questions about lines of communication between W&BC <br />and the employee group since their requested changes came shortly after the proposed <br />updates from the W&BC. Ms. Slominski explained that the committee took the employee <br />input in developing these changes but did not present it to employees for another round <br />of comments. <br /> <br /> There was Commission consensus to wait until after the open meeting to review further. <br /> <br />5.4 Utilities Commission Meeting Location <br /> <br /> Ms. Canterbury facilitated discussion on the commission meeting location and meeting room <br />setup options. She requested commission input on the best configuration of the room or <br />thoughts on different locations. There was discussion. <br /> <br />There was consensus to hold the August commission meeting in the Upper Town <br />conference room at City Hall to determine if that would be a better option. All meetings <br />will be posted as special meetings until the Commission approves changing its regular <br />meeting location for the remainder of 2021. <br /> <br />6.0 BUSINESS DISCUSSION <br /> <br />6.1 Staff Updates <br /> <br /> Ms. Nelson asked for commission feedback on the bullet point from her update regarding the <br />proposal to restart penalties for delinquent accounts in January 2022. There was discussion <br /> <br /> Mr. Geiser noted the increase in overtime due to the large number of projects in the service <br />area. Commissioner Stewart commended the electric department on handling the outage on <br />July 2. <br /> <br />32