Lincoln Aldermen approve original pay increases for non-union staff by a vote of 5-1

 

[May 16, 2023] 

Monday evening, the voting session of the Lincoln City Council included an agenda item for the increase in salaries for non-union employees filling administrative/clerical roles within the various departments of the city.

The motion was made by Alderman Kevin Bateman and seconded by Alderman Craig Eimer. In that motion the original salary increase of $4,000 for the Administrative Assistant to the City Council and Mayor and increases of $4,183 for each of the remaining staff members was put forth and approved by a vote of 5-1. Two seats on the council are currently vacant.

Aldermen voting for the increases included Bateman, Eimer, Robin McClallen, Steve Parrott and Sam Downs. The alderperson voting against the increases was Wanda Lee Rohlfs.

After the motion was made, the floor was opened for discussion and Alderwoman McClallen was the first to offer comments. She began by saying that she appreciated the work Police Chief Joe Meister had done in providing the council with comparison information as to how similar jobs were being compensated in other communities. She added that she agreed with Alderman Kevin Bateman that there should be discussions about comparatives and such in future pay decisions. She said she believed that employee evaluations were a good idea and that those should be a part of the decision-making process as well.

She said that these evaluations are not just good for the departments but also for the employees because it will help the employee know their value to the city. She said it would be good to give the department heads an amount for increases they could administer, but then let them decide based on the evaluations and other information how that lump sum of money is distributed among the employees.

Steve Parrott said he felt like the entire raise process this year “went south from the get-go.” He went on to say that one of the issues was that the employees were told what their raises were going to be before the council considered them. Then when the council wanted to take another direction it looked like the employees were not valued by the council. He said that looking at the percentage increases, the percentages were very high at around 10 percent. He said many employees would have been happy with the five to 7 percent increases, but they were disappointed because they thought they were going to be given more.

Parrott works for the state in the state education department. He said that in his area, the wages for certain skill sets run from $31,000 for a first-year employee to $39,000 for a ten-year employee. He said he still felt the five to seven percent was fair and would continue to do so until someone came and showed him it was not.

Alderwoman Rohlfs said another thing that needs to be considered is longevity. Those who stay in the city’s employee for multiple years should be rewarded for staying. She said that she wanted to show staff that they were valued but do it the right way.

Welch said “what has gotten lost in all this is that we have never taken these salary increases and separated them from a roll increase. That is what we tried to do this year, bring rolls up to a standard.” He added that the employee handbook does specify that there be annual evaluations and it will be done in the future.

He added that he agreed with McClallen and others who feel that the department heads should be permitted to be the ones to establish the individual increases.

It was also mentioned later in the evening that Welch has reached out to GovHR but has not heard back yet. He has also looked at some other groups that will do similar comparative studies for a fee.

At the end of the night during the announcements, Chief Meister I have the absolute most respect for the council’s decision. I want to thank you all for reconsidering the item regarding salaries for our employees. I believe that reflects highly upon yourselves as a council and sets a good example for perspective employers here in town.”

The raises were voted into effect with a retroactive start day of May 1, 2023.

[Nila Smith]