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UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING <br />TO:FROM: <br />ERMU Commission Theresa Slominski - GeneralManager <br />MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: <br />November 10, 2020 5.7 <br />SUBJECT: <br />Wage & BenefitsCommitteeUpdate <br />ACTION REQUESTED: <br />Approve all action items as outlined below to be effective January 1, 2021. <br />DISCUSSION: <br />On October 13, the Wage & Benefits Committee (WBC) held an open meeting for employees to <br />submit wage and benefit suggestions for consideration by theCommittee. A representative <br />group of employees presented several suggestions focused on the retention of employees. The <br />Committee met on October 28 to review and research topics from the open meeting. The <br />Committee also reviewed the “metro average” for the Lineworker positions and the 3% cost-of- <br />living adjustment (COLA) included in the budget. The Committee submits the following for <br />Commission consideration: <br /> <br />Employee Requests <br />The followingitems were requested: “metro average”benchmarking for Lineworker positions, <br />increase the On-Call radius from 20 to 25 miles, increase the On-Call compensationfrom 12 to <br />14 hours, have the ability to obtain up to 40 hours each year through worked overtime (OT) <br />and/or On-Call pay towards comp time, implement Longevity Pay with two differentideas <br />presented, change the vacation accrual to award 22 days at 16-18 years of service, and increase <br />the vacation accrual by 3 days to be awarded 1 day each at years 20, 22, and 24. <br />1. Metro Average – The metro average cost-of-living adjustment used for benchmarking <br />Lineworker market pay compares the base compensation of four metro municipals and <br />three metro cooperatives with ERMU. The comparison utilities are: The City of Anoka, <br />The City of Chaska, the City of North St. Paul, Shakopee Public Utilities, Connexus <br />Energy, Great River Energy, and Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association. <br /> <br />The projected 2021 metro average for base compensation would result in a 3.6% <br />adjustment (COLA plus market adjustment) for the ERMU Lineworker pay group. This <br />benchmarking system for the group has improvedstability in ERMU’s market <br />competitiveness for this pay group. The Committee recommends awarding the metro <br />average increase for the Lineworker pay group as requested. <br /> <br />______________________________________________________________________________ <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />86 <br />