Policy changes will be minor (3/2/04)

A few changes to the county’s policy regulating employees will be mostly minor.

Several portions of the Jay County Personnel Policy will be re-written by a consultant, members of the county personnel policy committee agreed Monday.

The changes, which are aimed at clarifying potentially ambiguous portions of the policy, must be approved by the Jay County Council before taking effect.

Members of the personnel policy committee, meeting late Monday afternoon in the commissioners’ room at the courthouse, agreed to have a section of the policy covering employee hiring and transfers revised to make it clearer. The change also will add language specifying that employees transferred to a higher pay grade position within a department after July 1 of any year will not be bumped up to the next pay level on Jan. 1 of the following year.

Also to be re-written will be a section regarding changes in or transfers to a new pay grade. The committee’s intent regarding employee transfers is to make sure that employees move to a spot on the 11-step pay plan that is closest to, but no less than, the currently hourly pay rate.

Jonna Reece, of Associated Payroll Plus in Muncie, who has been hired as an on-call human resources consultant by Jay County Commissioners, will make the revisions and will also do further research on part-time pay for county employees. This year, Reece will also complete a review of job descriptions and pay grades for county employees.

Dr. Steven Myron, Jay County’s health officer, had requested in January that the county council consider raising the hourly pay rate for a part-time health registrar. The county’s current rate for clerical workers is $7.33 per hour.

Myron, saying the preparation of birth and death certificates and other tasks required a high degree of accuracy, said the rate should be at or slightly above $9 per hour.

Reece, who does extensive work in Delaware County, said Monday that she believes $7.33 an hour is a fair part-time wage for clerical work in Jay County.

“Basically, your part-time rates are whatever the market will bear. I think you’re right in the market on your part-time (pay),” said Reece.

Members of the personnel policy committee present Monday were county surveyor Brad Daniels, county treasurer Robin Alberson, county auditor Freda Corwin, Commissioner Milo Miller Jr., and council members Jack Houck, Gerald Kirby and Marilyn Coleman.

The committee also asked Reece to add language to the personnel policy that would assure employees would not end up making less money if their pay grade is changed involuntarily. The previous policy has been to start employees at the minimum salary of the new position, or, if their pay was higher than the minimum, to freeze their pay until the minimum is increased to their pay level.

The administrative assistant at the Jay County Highway Department was put in that situation several years ago, when the grade for her position was raised after a comprehensive review. Because of existing policies, she did not receive raises over the past few years, and is actually making a lower hourly rate than she would have at the old pay grade.[[In-content Ad]]