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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-04-24 MINUTES OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH MEETING OF THE LOCAL OFFICERS COMPENSATION COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On April 24, 2013, the above meeting was held at the Livonia City Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan, and was called to order by Scott Grace, the Acting Chairperson, at 7:00 p.m. Roll was called with the following result: MEMBERS PRESENT: Scott Grace Richard Hayward Glen Long, Jr. John Murphy Ronald Reinke Maureen Simari MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: Jack Kirksey, Mayor Dennis Wright, City Treasurer Sue Hoff, Deputy Clerk On a motion by Reinke, seconded by Long, and unanimously adopted, it was: #01-13 RESOLVED, that the minutes of the January 25, 2011, Local Officers Compensation Commission Meeting are hereby approved as submitted. On a motion by Reinke, seconded by Hayward, and unanimously adopted, it was: #02-13 RESOLVED, that Scott Grace is elected to serve as Chairperson of the Local Officers Compensation Commission for the year 2013. On a motion by Murphy, seconded by Simari, and unanimously adopted, it was: #03-13 RESOLVED, that Ronald Reinke is elected to serve as Vice Chairperson of the Local Officers Compensation Commission for the year 2013. A handout was provided to the Commissioners relative to salaries for Conference of Western Wayne communities’ elected officials. They were also provided with a handout of salary information for Administrative, Public Safety, Technical/Clerical and Boards/ Commissions/Councils of those same communities, as well as City of Livonia union rate increases since 12/01/2008. Minutes of the Local Officers Compensation Commission Meeting of April 24, 2013 2 Mayor Kirksey addressed the Commission concerning the discrepancy in compensation between the position of City Clerk and the position of City Treasurer. These are both elected positions. He feels that this discrepancy occurred due more to the personalities of the past office holders and was not based on the work involved with the positions. He feels that the salaries should be equal. Currently the City Clerk earns a base salary of $74,000 a year and the City Treasurer earns a base salary of $70,900 a year. The Mayor also stated that he felt that the current City Treasurer, Dennis Wright, has a long history of giving back to the community through various volunteer activities. He has expanded on that in his current position. Dennis Wright has also made great strides in collecting bad debt from business owners. The comment was made that Dennis has a good rapport with the business community since he was a previous small business owner. He gives people a chance to pay bad debt to the City through payment programs. Commissioner John Murphy stated that Dennis Wright is very proactive in his positon. Commissioner Richard Hayward encouraged the commission to leave out personalities in making this salary decision and to base the salary on the position and its pay relative to that of the City Clerk. The Mayor also reported on his position. He stated that he still acts as The Director of Public Safety and he also has a half position as Economic Development Director. He takes no pension or hospitalization which would normally go with his position. Discussion was held concerning the fact that this was the current Mayor’s last term and the salary of the Mayor may be a determining factor in candidates wishing to run for this office. It may actually be a pay cut for a younger professional. The benefits offered to the Mayor should remain the same. Not everyone could refuse them as the current Mayor has done. Chairperson Scott Grace asked how benefits have changed for the various union employees of the City over the past years. The Mayor stated that two large cost saving measures have been made that have had long term effects on the City’s budget and have helped Livonia through the recent difficult economic times. The first savings being made in 1997 when the Defined Benefit option for retirement was removed from the contracts. All new hires after that time are only offered a Defined Contribution option. The second is a Health Savings account that is currently being offered to new hires in place of medical benefits in retirement. The contracts signed in the past few years reflect this change. There was a brief discussion held on the benefits received by the City Council, City Clerk and City Treasurer. It varies from one individual to the next. The members were reminded that benefits fall under the Charter and are not determined by this Commission. Minutes of the Local Officers Compensation Commission Meeting of April 24, 2013 3 It was also reported by the Mayor that the City’s union employees have received no pay raises in recent years and have also been giving up their pay through unpaid furlough days. The Mayor stated that the City employs many excellent workers and their sacrifices have been appreciated. The Commission members congratulated him on smooth negations with the unions to make these concessions possible. Mayor Kirksey stated that he had another unusual request for the Commission that was received through a number of phone calls and letters to the Mayor from citizens. They were regarding the number of hours that the current City Council works as compared to the number of hours previously worked when the economy was doing well and there were longer meetings and more meetings being held. The Mayor distributed a handout from this outside source with the subject line of: “Livonia City Councilperson Compensation-Citizens are paying a lot for a little in return- your chance to make some needed Changes” The Commission considered this handout which suggested that because of the reduced work load of the City Council that they be paid a combination of a straight salary and then a per meeting rate based on the number of meetings actually attended. A comment was made by Commissioner Reinke that before the Commission could have a serious discussion on whether to change the method of payment to the City Council the Commission should receive a report from the City Clerk’s office and possibly from the City Council office regarding the frequency of meetings that Council members attend, the length of those meetings and the total number of members present at each meeting. After discussion on the number of years of data needed to have a good representation of the current situation, Chairperson Grace stated he would request from the City Clerk’s Office and the City Council office the required data for 2007 through 2013 on behalf of Commissioner Reinke. It was determined that another meeting of the Commission would be scheduled by Chairperson Grace after he received the data. Both Mayor Kirksey and City Treasurer Wright left the meeting at 7:50 p.m. On a motion by Reinke, seconded by Murphy, and unanimously adopted, the meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Scott Grace, Chairperson /sh