Review raise requests once a year

The can could be open, but it doesn’t have to be.
Jay County assessor Diana Stults visited last week’s Jay County Council meeting, bringing a request to rewrite one of the job descriptions for her department. She proposed that the change include a raise for the employees, saying she has saved the county tens of thousands of dollars by handling work that was previously farmed out.
Council members voted to send the rewritten job description to consulting firm Waggoner, Irwin and Scheele, which wrote the county’s pay plan, for its review. They’ll take action on the request at a future meeting after receiving an opinion from Waggoner.
Given the information Stults provided, a raise seems to be in order.
But several council members expressed concern that if they pass this change and the corresponding salary increase, they would likely see similar requests from department after department. Bob Vance voted against sending the job description for review, saying it could “open up a can of worms.”
He’s right. It could. But only if council allows it to.
There’s a simple solution here.
Rather than worrying about such requests becoming a regular distraction, council should set a policy. It will accept such requests at just one meeting per year. Sometime in the spring would make sense, as it would provide enough time to have any changes on the books prior to the budget approval process.
Such a system would allow department heads the opportunity to request changes and raises if they feel them necessary. Meanwhile, it would prevent council from having to consider such requests on a constant basis, which seems to be their main concern.
It would be fair for all involved.
So, yes, rewriting a job description and raising a salary could open a can of worms. But it only will if council members allow it to.
They need to remember: They control the lid. — R.C.