Council to review compensation plans

Published 12:14 pm Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Last month the Farmville Town Council voted to advertise a request for proposals to conduct a Classification and Compensation Plan study.

One main focus of the research is to review the town’s current employees classification and compensation plan, to include but not limited to organizational structure, job titles, job descriptions, pay grades, and minimum and maximum ranges within pay grades.

C. Scott Davis

“The whole basis of this plan came about after discussions between the mayor and town council about job descriptions, and salaries,” explained C. Scott Davis, assistant town manager. “It was determined that the pay plans, pay grades, and job descriptions of employees haven’t been changed in over 20 years, so it’s past or at a time for a full review to be done.”

Email newsletter signup

The town employs 137 full-time employees and 28 part-time employees.

At the council’s May 8 meeting, members directed town staff to amend the 2019-2020 proposed town budget and requested placing $100,000 for the Classification and Compensation Plan study into the budget.

A public hearing on the budget was held June 12.

According to Davis, he expects the cost of the study to be around $50,000, although a firm has not been awarded for the research yet.

An outside firm is expected to be hired by mid-July with the study completed by January 2020. “We are looking at outside firms because we feel we can get an unbiased approached,” Davis said.

Davis also pointed out that the firm hired for the study would be looking at other localities for comparison and economic factors to get a better idea of what the town has now and what can be done. “Are we in line with the pay grades, too high or too low for the job descriptions is something they will be looking at,” he added.

With the town set to hold a public hearing on the budget this week with an additional $100,000 request added to that, when asked how he justifies spending that amount of funds on a study Davis said, “The town does not currently have an employee that has a sole responsibility for human resources and no other duties. This type of study and implementation would take an existing employee to be almost solely dedicated to this project, a considerable amount of time, and expertise in this particular area. A firm with this expertise will be able to have a team of individuals working on this project, and it will be completed in less time. So, hiring a firm is actually being good stewards in that we are seeking professionals with the expertise to make sure that our workforce has up-to-date job descriptions and they are earning fair and equitable rates of pay compared to our local economy and other local governments and organizations of similar size and job functions.”

Davis also noted that the firm that will be selected will not just study the towns current compensation and classification plan but from the study, they will recommend a new or adjusted compensation and classification plan, write new job descriptions, and evaluate and recommend any potential new policies needed regarding Fair Labor Standards Act and any other policies.