The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About09/19/2000, C1 - MINUTES council909` - -11 9-0 _ l acEnaa RepoRt, C1 - CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISP'O C1,.. COUNCIL.MINUTES_OF TUESDAY,-AUGUST'15._2000. ,(PRICE) Minutes to Follow at a Eater Date C1-1 council _/ -c�D j acEnaa REpont C2 CITY OF SAN LUIS 0 B I S P 0 FROM: Ann Slate,Director of Human Resource9 Mike McCluskey,Public Works Directaf® SUBJECT: Engineering Career Series and Compensation Adjustments CAO RECOMMENDATION: Appropriate $33,700 from unreserved General Fund Balance for increased compensation in establishing an engineering career series of classifications in the Public Works Department. DISCUSSION Due to numerous factors, compensation for the City's design engineering staff has not kept pace with the competing local labor market. The economy is doing very well currently, construction is booming, and the demand for private sector engineers to prepare numerous civil engineering plans and specifications for both private development and government projects is high. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), due to the burgeoning economy and recent State union victories, currently has nearly 1400 openings statewide — enough openings to hire every civil engineering college graduate in the country this year! City engineering staff is being approached weekly with solicitations to apply for work both with private firms and Caltrans. An informal salary survey, done in March 2000, showed that our current pay scales were below the average by 7%to 18%depending on job classification. Caltrans, for example, pays their engineering position which is comparable to the City's Civil Engineer classification $4457-5417 per month. The City's Civil Engineer has a pay range of$3731-4580, which is 18%per cent lower. The survey also indicated that many public agencies have "career ladders" for classifying and compensating their engineering personnel. Staff is concerned, given the ambitious Capital Improvement Program the City is committed to, that vacancies and staffing turnover will cause unacceptable delays and workload impacts on the current engineering employees. Pmpeced Joh Deccriintionc Rather than try to immediately `Just pay more", staff first reviewed and updated all pertinent job descriptions. By doing this, the duties assigned to the various positions in a career ladder program that would meet the work output expected by management and the increasing responsibility and pay sought by employees are more clearly described and understood. For example, the proposed Engineering Assistant I will perform"simple professional and technical civil engineering work,the C2-1 Council Agenda Report—Engineering Career Series and Compensation Adjustments Page 2 Engineering Assistant H will perform "moderately complex . . .civil engineering work"; the Associate Engineer will perform moderately complex . . . civil engineering work" and may direct the work of Engineering Assistants I and II. Finally, the proposed Principal Engineer will perform "complex professional and technical civil engineering worm' and is required to be registered by the State of California as a Civil Engineer. These four professional engineering classifications require knowledge, skills and abilities that progressively increase in complexity, responsibility, experience, and education/certification. In addition, the paraprofessional classification of Engineering Technician has been expanded. An Engineering I and II is being proposed that has a similar progression of knowledge, skills and abilities. The proposed new job titles and salary ranges can be found in Attachment A. With enough self- motivation, experience and education/training an employee could conceivably progress to a fully licensed civil engineer. With new job descriptions in hand, staff started the task of deternim ng appropriate pay scales. Using the City Engineer as a benchmark, pay scales were developed to track the ever-increasing responsibilities associated with the career path job descriptions. The pay scales were then adjusted to match the nearest existing City pay range. Those were then compared to the salary study to determine if finther modifications were necessary. The salary review showed that the new pay scales nearly matched the average differences. There will always be those agencies that pay more and there will always be pressure on employees to leave for more pay. However,staff now believes that the incentive will be less and that the other combination of benefits and city team atmosphere will help us recruit and retain our key staff. A significant benefit in developing a career series is the flexibility it affords the City in the recruitment process. Without a career series,when a vacancy occurs,a recruitment is conducted for an individual classification with specific minimum requirements and a clearly defined salary range. If a candidate is identified that doesn't meet the minimum requirements,he or she is ineligible for further consideration. With a career series,when a vacancy occurs, a recruitment can be conducted for the entire series, if appropriate, and the strongest candidates can be considered for the vacancy regardless of which "step of the career ladder" they happen to be on. It will afford the Public Works Department the necessary flexibility to consider candidates with varied experience and training levels and to make a selection from a wider range of candidates depending on the needs of the Division. Some retirements are anticipated in the Engineering Division within the next 3 to 12 months. With these retirements will come a loss of years of experience and significant 'institutional memory". Replacing the retirees will be difficult, but through advertising for a wide range of candidates, the Department will be able to find the best qualified candidates and to rebuild the engineering team with a combination of individuals that are best suited to the vacancies. The Department needs the flexibility to be able to hire at any level within the series based upon what skills, knowledges and abilities the successful candidates are bringing to the positions. Snmmaty For many years, the City has experienced difficulty in recruiting engineering classifications. With the strong economy and the resulting competition for engineers in both the public and private C2-2 Council Agenda Report—Engineering Career Series and Compensation Adjustments Page 3 sectors, additional compensation is necessary to enable the city to recruit and retain qualified engineering personnel. The recommended career series will go a long way in ensuring that the City has adequate staffing resources in engineering to support the Capital Improvement Program. CONCURRENCES The various classifications involved in this recommendation are represented by the San Luis Obispo City Employees' Association. The impacts to their bargaining unit have been discussed and they are in concurrence with the recommendation. FISCAL EM PACT Eleven current employees (but twelve positions) will eventually be affected by the proposed changes. Of the eleven,Public Works management is recommending that only four will receive an immediate (effective October 5, 2000) pay adjustment for a total immediate fiscal impact of approximately$16,751 until June 30,2001. That sum includes salary and benefit costs. The Public Works management wants to take the next six months to more fully analyze how the remaining seven employees may be moved into a new classification in the career ladder. In conjunction with performance evaluations and the setting of goals and objectives, the department believes that they can more effectively determine where in the career series the various employees should be placed. Should most or all of the employees qualify for an upgrade,the estimated fiscal impact is$6,166 for the remainder of FY2000-2001. Again,this is both salary and benefit costs. The 12' position, currently classified as an Engineering Assistant, is vacant due to an employee leaving for a position with Caltrans. The projected salary for the new employee is expected to fall within the existing budgeted amount, so there is no need for an additional appropriation for that position. Because the anticipated retirements are indefinite,determining"concrete"funding requirements for their replacements at this time is impossible. Therefore, a calculation enabling the department to fill the most immediate retirement of a current Engineering Assistant with a candidate at the highest level of the series has been included. It is recognized that although a Principal Engineer capable of handling the most complex assignments may be the most desired candidate at this time, a lower position in the series may be what is actually filled. That cost difference equates to an additional $10,400 for FY00-01. Thus the total fiscal impact for fiscal year 2000-2001 will be approximately $33,300. This will require an appropriation from the unreserved General Fund Balance that will still be above the policy minimum,taking the fund balance to 20.9%of the General Fund. The total ongoing casts of these compensation adjustments for fiscal years 2001-2002 and beyond is estimated to be $59,000 and will be included in the upcoming two year financial planning process. ATTACHMENTS Attachment A: Proposed Engineering Career Series C2-3 Attachment A city of san Luis osispo Proposed Engineering Career Series Proposed Salary Top Step Salary Top Step Current Titles Range Monthly Proposed Titles Range Monthly Engineering Technician 423 3,269.50 Engineering Technician 1 423 3,269.50 Engineering Technician II 425 3,442.83 Engineering Assistant 432 4,129.67 Assistant Engineer 1 432 4,129.67 Assistant Engineer 11 436 4,580.13 Civil Engineer 436 4,580.33 Associate Engineer 439 4,950.83 Principal Civil Engineer 325 5,460.00 Supervising Civil Engineer 335 5,834.83 Supervising Civil Engineer 335 5,834.83 C2-4