• • Jackson County Pilot

The 10 or so Jackson County government employees whose salaries are farthest from equivalent jobs in the rest of the competitive marketplace will be getting an overdue raise, but the county’s compensation system will not undergo the total overhaul recommended by last year’s study of job duties and wages.

Not in this economy, said the county’s commissioners during a regular meeting Tuesday.

The salary adjustments being made were the at-minimum recommendations of the larger pay study. Fifteen positions were listed as two or more pay grades under where the study concluded they should be, and five of those have already been addressed in previous board actions, said coordinator Jan Fransen.

The adjustments were estimated to cost an initial $14,000 to $15,000. A recent estimate on implementing the entire plan pegged the cost at $30,000.

“The timing is not good and the cost is not good,” said commissioner David Henkels, who also argued that employees earning more than the market equivalent ought to be brought down out of fairness and that the new plan laid out achievement raises far too quickly.

“The plan is just informational and I don’t want to implement it,” he said after explaining that private industries could ratchet up their wages based on the county wages, putting the county behind the market again and creating a vicious cycle.

“When the doors start swinging like Macy’s after Thanksgiving, we’ll know we’re doing something wrong, and I don’t see that happening,” said commissioner Bill Tusa, tempering his comment with an appreciative note for the work employees do.

None argued against employees being the most valuable asset to the county, but Henkels contended there is a limit to what should be done to try to keep them.

“The ones who are only off by one (pay grade), I have compassion for them but that is not far off in the scheme of life,” said board chair Loren Tusa.

Neither the adjustments nor the study were mandated, as the county is still in compliance with state-regulated pay equity levels.

“This is a tough deal,” said commissioner Roger Ringkob. “I voted against the study in the first place because we were in compliance.”

The board had contemplated no action at all, instead allowing department heads to approach individually with their rationale for adjusting the pay levels of their employees. But Fransen argued that could easily be based on the person, not the position, therefore inviting morale and legal problems.

“My concern is not that you don’t adopt it but that you pick and choose,” she said, noting further that department heads were very involved in the process of the compensation study.

After the study, a plan was formed by assigning points for job duties, updating job descriptions and then reassigning positions to new pay ranges that better correspond to their responsibilities.

The proposal presented to the board called for a two-year phase-in of the new system and no employees’ pay would be cut.

In the end, the board voted unanimously to adjust the rest of the 15-position list of employees who were two or more grades behind in pay.





COUNTY PICKS FIRM FOR RADIO PLAN

The plan that will pave the way for Jackson County to participate in the state’s Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response system will be crafted by the firm GeoComm, commissioners decided Tuesday. GeoComm was one of two firms interviewed for the project and three that submitted quotes. The plan is a required next step to join the state radio system before the 2013 narrowbanding deadline being imposed by the federal government.

“We felt very comfortable not only with their proposal but with their interview as well,” said county emergency manager Jeff Johnson of GeoComm.

The plan’s $22,600 price tag will be fully paid for by a federal emergency management grant the county has obtained.

After the participation plan — which centers on radio signal coverage study, equipment needs and recommendations and coordination of talk groups — the county will need an implementation plan to carry out the transition by the deadline. Additional grants may become available for that study as well.

The participation study is anticipated to be completed in 90 days and will then be forwarded to the regional radio board and then state radio board for approvals.



LIBRARIES TRIM HOURS, EXPENSES

The Jackson County Libraries chose to trim their $70,000 budget shortfall by using reserves, closing the Jackson Public Library on Sundays, opening the Lakefield Public Library two hours later on Mondays and cutting the Heron Lake Public Library’s after-school program, as well as cutting staff preparation hours, according to a report by commissioner Rosemary Schultz. However, five employees earning less than their market equivalent, according to the county pay study, were given adjustment raises. Cuts were also made to expenditures in postage, community education, travel and room and board, daycare visits and supplies.



COURTHOUSE STEPS TO BE CLOSED

The crumbling concrete steps leading up to the front doors of the Jackson County Courthouse will soon be closed as a safety precaution. The contractor who did the original work has agreed to replace the steps at cost, likely in the spring, said coordinator Jan Fransen.



GRANT AIDS SNOWMOBILE PATROL

A two-year grant of $8,478 has been awarded to Jackson County by the Department of Natural Resources for overtime pay and equipment needed for enforcement of snowmobile rules and regulations.



REVIEW OF TOBACCO LICENSE RULES COMING

Regular tobacco license renewals sparked a discussion by county commissioners on what more can be done to dissuade local retailers from targeting tobacco advertising at youth “to further the cause of Susan Vileta and the anti-smoking (Start Noticing) campaign,” said board member Bill Tusa.

Tusa suggested a warning sticker for tobacco ads, and coordinator Jan Fransen proposed a review of the 1998 tobacco ordinance.

“I see the other side of it too,” Tusa said. “If we’re too stringent, we’re going to hurt our local retailers. My focus is education. The sooner we can educate our kids, the better.”

A committee to look into such a review may meet as soon as January.