4.2. ERMUSR 10-13-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330-0430 October 7, 2009 To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission John Dietz Jerry Gumphrey Daryl Thompson From: Troy Adams Subject: Review and Consider 2009 Pay Request Phone: 763.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 This previous April, the utility commission voted fora 0% pay increase for staff and for the topic to be review again in 6 months. During this time, ERMU has further evaluated the pay request process. Based on legal council of Gray Plant Mooty, the process will now be handled over two separate commission meetings. During the first meeting, management will provide the relevant information. In general terms this includes industry comparisons, economic trends, and impact to ERMU financials. In the past, a survey of seven predetermined peer metro utilities was utilized. This will continue to be used. Going forward, the consumer price index will also be provided. At the request of the commission, addition information may be provided. The employees will be provided the opportunity to bring suggestions and requests to management. This information will be reviewed and considered by management and may then be included in the presentation to the commission. At the discretion of the commission, employees will be afforded the opportunity to address the commission during this first meeting. These statements from employees may be taken into consideration by the commission during their decision making process. After the commission has collected the information needed for their decision, the topic will be tabled until the following utility commission meeting at which the commission will make their decision without influence from staff. For years ERMU has used a survey of neighboring utilities to gage the industry for purposes of compensation comparison. For ease of comparing, the lineperson position has typically been used as the benchmark because job duties and position requirements are very consistent from one utility to another. The utilities used in this survey had been agreed upon because of their proximity to the ERMU and the Cities. Also, these are the utilities which ERMU is directly in competition with for labor. This process of using the average benchmarked wage from the identified competition also provided some mitigation to labor cost volatility. When the metro survey was provided to the commission in April, North St. Paul and Connexus had not yet completed labor negotiations. North St. Paul has put the topic on hold and has not given a pay increase. Connexus has completed their labor negotiations. The contract is retroactive to