Portland needs a different process

To the editor:

Having just read the article concerning the Portland City Council meeting on Aug. 16,  the ongoing wrangling over the city employee's pay increase was as Mayor Boggs said "finally" put to rest.

The reality of this unfortunate protracted situation is that the unsettling turmoil, delays and emotional cost that the employees, department managers, council members and the mayor all endured is totally unnecessary in this writer's opinion.

One only needs to look at the results from the county personnel committee and Dunkirk City Council actions.

The county has a plan and is advised by a third party as to necessary pay classification changes. The personnel committee takes any unusual increase request from various departments under advisement and compares them to like skills and abilities from surrounding areas. They typically follow the plan and keep the majority of the groups in the mid ranges of the various classifications. This predictable, fact-based process is good for the employees, the council, the commissioners and the residents of the county.

Dunkirk understood its limitations from tax revenues and dealt with the approved employee increases straight on.

It may be in Portland's best interest for the future to invest now in a good, fact-based pay plan that takes the politics, self interest and raw emotion out of the current painful process.

A sound, regionally competitive, fact-based plan could be a long term win-win for the employees, council, mayor and the taxpayers of Portland.

Jeff Hiser 

Portland