Laserfiche WebLink
edits for this round. She added that the Commercial Driver's License drug policy is under <br />review by legal staff to ensure that language matches across all publications. <br />Moved by Commissioner Stewart and seconded by Commissioner Westgaard to adopt <br />the revised ERMU Employee Handbook. Motion carried 5-0. <br />5.0 BUSINESS ACTION <br />5.1 2024 Compensation Study Update <br />Mr. Hanson provided a summary of the discussion from the June commission meeting. He <br />then talked through his memo, discussed potential costs depending on the selected plan, <br />and presented methods of implementation. Mr. Hanson explained that following <br />commission direction from the June meeting, he had asked Baker Tilly to create a seven <br />step slightly market leading plan, where the seventh step was in line with the ninth step in <br />June. For the purpose of comparison and providing the Commission with options, he also <br />had Baker Tilly staff create a seven step slightly market lagging plan with the seventh step <br />matching step eight from June. <br />Mr. Hanson also highlighted the section of his memo which addressed the question from <br />the previous month about how many comparable utilities had performance compensation <br />programs like ERMU's Utilities Performance Metrics Incentive Compensation (UPMIC). He <br />explained that six of the ten had some form of performance compensation, with two <br />interested in implementing a performance -based program, and two that were not. <br />Mr. Hanson described the tables in the report which quantify total cost through 2027 for a <br />4% annual wage adjustment. <br />He then reminded the Commission that $135,000 had been set aside in the 2024 budget <br />towards a compensation adjustment. He pointed out the portion of the chart that <br />explained that depending on the implementation scenario, the Commission could <br />potentially have the option to back pay the adjustment to January 1, 2024, while other <br />scenarios would need to begin in August to meet the 2024 budget. <br />Mr. Hanson explained that there is a cost benefit to implementing the current step plan in <br />2024 as opposed to beginning any plan in January 2025, namely that a plan that began <br />August of 2024 could have a lower cost, having not been in place for the first eight <br />months of the year. Also bringing employees into the plan at their current step, which <br />generally places them further along in their respective pay plans, will mean having fewer <br />step increases than the closest step implementation. <br />Mr. Hanson confirmed a point raised at the June meeting that the costs to implement <br />either pay plan could be paid by margins while keeping the Utilities within policy and not <br />Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Meeting Minutes <br />July 9, 2024 <br />Page 4 <br />