Council will look at pay plan (04/12/07)

Jay County's pay plan needs some tweaking and the Jay County Council agreed Wednesday night to give the plan serious consideration.

In the past few years, department heads and elected officials have regularly approached council members and county commissioners about their concerns for the starting wages for positions in their departments.

Wednesday night, the council heard it in earnest.

Jay County Sheriff Ray Newton and highway superintendent Ken Wellman each spoke to council members about pay concerns.

Newton said his concern centered around an inability to find qualified jailers, as well as starting salaries for those hired for those positions.

"It all comes down to money," he said. "I have trouble finding jailers and part-time help."

Newton said there are currently eight full-time jailers and four part-time. State statute calls for two jailers per shift and one jailer per 20 inmates. But he explained that there have been times when only one jailer would be available.

The starting salary for a full-time jailer is $20,700 annually while part-time workers are hired at $8.24 per hour.

Because of the lack of jailers, Newton said he was concerned with safety at the security center.

"(To have) one jailer (working a shift) is not a safe situation we put these people in," he said. "If a guy has to work by himself, that's not safe."

Commissioner Faron Parr spoke to council members on Newton's behalf, explaining that the county's liability insurance provider, Les McKnight of Bloomington, Ill., has indicated that unless more security is provided at the jail, the county's policy will not be renewed in 2008.

"This is a good sign we need more help," Parr said. "We've gotta have insurance."

"This is not an argument we haven't heard before and are going to hear again," councilman Gerald Kirby, also a former sheriff, said. "It's not fair working on a shoestring at the jail, but I'm surprised we didn't see any of this in the last budget session."

Newton said he would like to hire another jailer at the present time and ask for another in 2008 when budget hearings begin in August.

"When I go home I want to know my employees are safe," he said.

"I'd like to see him get one employee right now," councilman Fred Bailey said.

Council members agreed to Newton's request to hire another jailer "as soon as possible" and he will submit an additional appropriation to the council in May to pay for the position.

Concerning the pay plan, Newton said he would also like to see the starting wages for deputies increased as well. He said currently those officers are given a starting salary of $24,000. He compared that to the $30,000 Portland city officers receive as a starting wage. Portland police chief Bob Sours said this morning the city's starting wage for an officer is actually just under $33,000.

"I have a good group of people and I want to keep them," Newton said.

Wellman also spoke to the council about his concerns for the starting wages of truck drivers for his department.

"You've heard this all before," he said, as he urged the starting salary for those workers be increased. Truck drivers are currently paid $20,779 as a starting salary, and beginning heavy equipment operators receive $21,900 per year.

"You put a man behind a $100,000 piece of equipment and pay him $9.99 per hour," he said. "He could be working somewhere else and making more than that."

Parr again spoke to the council, noting that there are several highway employees nearing retirement age, and Wellman is concerned about their replacements.

"We, as a county, have been blessed with long-term employees," Parr said, "but we can't hire at that salary. For what they're doing they deserve a little more money."

Marilyn Coleman, president of the council, explained how the pay plan was implemented in the early 1990s to assist in providing a fair salary to the county's employees and to help bring salaries into line with the job description.

"I think the flaws are minimal," she said.

See Plan page 2

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"We don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water," Kirby said about developing a new plan. "Maybe we need to tweak this thing a little. I don't see a problem with the starting salary being increased, but the part-time (pay) needs to be broken down and looked at individually."

Council members will be meeting in May with Jonna Reece of Reece Consulting Firm, Muncie, who is hired on a contract basis to review the county's pay plan.

"We can't price the county out of business either," Coleman cautioned about potential increases.

Additionally Wednesday night the council approved additional appropriations for:

•$1,000 from the county general fund for the Jay Circuit Court's CASA program.

•$1,400 from the Jay Emergency Medical Service fund for education to train a paramedic.

•$13,400 from the Drug Free Community Fund for 12 organizations as recommended by the Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition.

•$1,650 from the Drug Free (Sheriff) Fund for deputy overtime.

•$1,400 from Operation Pullover Fund for deputy overtime.

Additionally council members learned from Jay Circuit Court judge Brian Hutchison that painting of the repairs in the courtroom is set to begin this week and should take about seven days to complete.

Some plastered areas in the room were in need of repair and he said that work had been completed.

The council also approved a request from Newton to increase the cost of providing an accident report to $5. The cost in the past has been $2.

Newton said he had also increased the cost of conducting sheriff's sales to $140 from $13.

"That's more than reasonable," Kirby said about increasing the accident report fee. "It was $3 in the 1970s," when Kirby served in that position.[[In-content Ad]]