First reading ends in a 3-1 vote; second vote set for Aug. 11
The Spruce Pine Town Council voted 3-1 last week to approve the first reading of a new policy on employee compensation.
The new policy will be subject to a second reading and a second vote before it becomes official.
Council Member Rocky Buchanan was the lone opponent of the new policy. Buchanan did not give a specific reason for opposing the measure, but the new policy includes a provision for merit raises (as well as longevity pay and cost-of-living increases), and Buchanan spoke against merit raises during recent budget talks, saying they lead to bad morale and division among personnel.
Buchanan said he would speak to other local government officials to see how this policy reform compares to their personnel experiences before the second vote.
“I can’t go along with it, so I’ll leave it at that.” Buchanan said. “I need to look at this more, and I need to talk to my cohorts in Yancey County, and I have them in Newland also.”
Mayor Phillip Hise and Council Members Beth Holmes and Jackie Rensink voted for the measure. Council member Wayne Peight was absent.
The proposed compensation scheme was drawn up by The MAPS (Management and Personnel Services) Group, a consulting firm. Company President Rebecca Veazey gave a presentation on the proposed compensation plan.
“Becky’s got a vast many years of experience with local government,” Town Manager Daniel Stines said before her presentation.
Veazey noted that she worked in human resources for Cary and then Durham County, before joining MAPS 35 years ago.
Veazey said that part of the purpose of developing this compensation policy is to make sure employees feel valued and don’t leave municipal service prematurely.
“I know one of the reasons people do leave is they don’t recommendations, Veazey said her team had given Spruce Pine employees questionnaires and then followed up with interviews. She also sought feedback from Stines, to make sure none of her conclusions were based on misunderstandings of the information she had received.
Veazey said that when employment policies cause dissatisfaction there is a high monetary cost to employee turnover.
“Turnover is very expensive. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, when an employee leaves, the cost is anywhere between two-thirds of that employee’s salary and 125 percent of that employee’s salary,” Veazey said.
In this first reading, the council voted to phase-in Veazey’s recommendations, concerned that a sudden change in all pay policies would be too much of a strain on the town budget.
In addition to pay raises and systematized job descriptions and classifications, the new plan includes a career-development plan for Spruce Pine police officers.
“We’re having such a hard time finding and keeping law enforcement — this is something a lot of organizations have done,” Veazey said.
Stines said that studying and improving personnel policies has been one of his main focus areas since he started working for the town earlier this year.
“Just to recap, you know, when I came here, this was one of the first priorities the council directed me to get in front of,” Stines said.
A second reading is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 11 during the Spruce Pine Town Council meeting.