Change in pay plan likely

The Jay County Council made its first move toward revamping the pay plan for county employees Wednesday night by deciding to bring in a personnel consultant next month.
The new council — Mike Rockwell, Bob Vance and Ted Champ were attending their first meeting after winning the seats in November — wasted no time in addressing the oft-criticized pay plan by tackling it in January.
“I think we need to get someone in here and study this pay plan,” said council president Mike Leonhard.
Jay County Auditor Nancy Culy said she had already been in contact with Kent Irwin of Waggoner, Irwin Scheele and Associates, Muncie, who said he would take on the project of crafting a new pay plan. Irwin serves as the county’s personnel consultant.
“He said it would take him about six months and cost $35,000 to $40,000,” Culy said.
The county pay plan has consistently come under fire from department heads and council members in the past years. Operating on a series of pay “steps and levels,” the plan has become an admitted mess due to longevity, pay increases and exceptions made by the council over the years.
“The current pay plan has been shot so full of holes,” said councilman Gary Theurer.
Complaints have ranged from starting pays being too low, to longevity pay creating situations in which supervisors are making less than their subordinates, or people performing the same job separated by hundreds or thousands of dollars of annual salary.
Councilwoman Marilyn Coleman said the current plan spiraled out of control because past councils “didn’t follow it” and made tweaks and exceptions that compounded over time.
This time around, the council will likely be looking for a plan with stiff rules to avoid repeating the same mistake.
“It needs to be guided by universal guidelines,” said councilman Dan Orr.
Although the council acknowledged that forming a new plan will certainly not please everyone, it decided to have Irwin come in February to discuss a new plan.
“We would be fixing a headache,” said Champ. “I make a motion we bring him in and have him talk to us.”
To illustrate the complications of the pay plan, the council approved a salary change for Jay County Recorder’s office deputy Betty St. Myers.
New County recorder Bev Myers originally requested the adjustment in St. Myers’ pay in November. Since St. Myers was transitioning from the elected county recorder position back into a deputy position, her pay was returned to the level of a new employee since an elected official is technically not a county employee. Myers asked that the pay for St. Myers be upped by about $1,300.
Coleman said the council has contradicted itself on the issue of returning employees before. A former recorder was denied a pay increase in the past while other departments had been granted higher pay for returning employees.
The council voted to approve the increase with Coleman casting a dissenting vote on the principle that the council has denied these increases in the past.
In other business Wednesday night, the council:
•Elected officers for 2011: Leonhard, president, and Theurer, vice president.
•Appointed council members to various boards, including: Champ, Community Corrections Board; Orr, Coleman, Theurer and Champ, Economic Development Income Tax Advisory Board; Champ and Vance, Tax Abatement Advisory Board; Rockwell and Vance, Jay County Development Corporation board of directors; Rockwell, Joint Zoning Board; Leonhard and Theurer, personnel committee; Rockwell, Jay County Planning Commission; Theurer, Jay County Roads Committee; Orr, Jay County Solid Waste District; and Champ, Public Defender Board.
The council also reappointed former council member Gerald Kirby to the Jay County Regional Sewer District and appointed Richard Whitesell to the county Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
•Agreed to hire attorney Bill Hinkle as the council’s legal representation. Theurer said he will speak with Hinkle to make sure that Hinkle will take the job.
The council’s previous attorney, George Lopez, took a position as deputy county prosecutor and can no longer represent the council.
•Approved depositing $188,705.76 in the county’s rainy day fund, which represents half of the leftover amount in budgets in the county general, public health and Jay County Emergency Medical Services budgets from 2010.
The other half will be returned to its respective funds for 2011.
•Tabled a decision on whether to adopt a Deferred Retirement Option Program for the Jay County Sheriff’s Office pending legal review.
The pension program would allow officers to submit a binding resignation in advance that would freeze that employee’s years of service and pension total at the date of issuance as well as forfeit and future pay increases. In return, money that would normally pay into the pension fund is accrued in a separate account, allowing that person a lump sum total on the date of retirement.
Sheriff Ray Newton said other police agencies throughout the state utilize this plan and that officers at his department have expressed an interest in the DROP program.
•Signed an amendment to the 2011 salary ordinance to fix an issue regarding full time pay. A situation arose where full time employees of JEMS and the highway department would see a reduction in wages if transferring from part-time to full-time. The fix will make the starting wage the same as the part-time wage.
•Approved the EDIT Capital Improvement plan. The plan outlines how the county plans to spend EDIT money over the next five years.
•Agreed to disburse $72,465.48 in innkeeper tax collected in 2010 to Jay County Tourism in three payments throughout the year. The money is used to promote Jay County and county events.
•Agreed to return $47,000 to the Jay County Sheriff’s budget to purchase two new vehicles. Newton asked for the money to be placed into his budget so he could replace two department vehicles both with more than 120,000 miles on them.
Newton said he will obtain quotes and present the options to the Jay County Commissioners.
•Were updated by Newton on activity at the Jay County Jail. Newton presented the council with an activity report and meals report for 2010. He also said the jail is at about 80 percent capacity and that once the renovation is completed, he plans to fill the jail by housing Department of Corrections inmates, which will bring in $35 a day to the county.
•Heard a complaint by citizens about a tax abatement granted to Hoosier Pride Farms for a $4.6 million egg-laying operation at Ind. 18/67 and State Line Road in Wabash Township.
The group expressed concerns that materials and labor for the project would be coming from Ohio instead of local sources, that the company didn’t need an abatement, that the company is “using” the county and that the major expansion would damage property values in the area.
The council informed the citizens that it was too late to do anything in this case because the abatement was already passed, but Orr said he would lend further consideration toward local interests in the future.[[In-content Ad]]