by YASH ROY The new haven independent
The Elicker administration won a key initial vote of support for its plan to increase pay for department heads, coordinators, and other non-unionized managers, as an aldermanic committee endorsed salary range bumps and cost of living adjustments in an effort to ward off even more City Hall vacancies.
The Board of Alders Finance Committee took that vote Thursday night during its latest meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
The committee alders recommended approval of a proposed ordinance amendment that would revise the city’s Executive Management & Confidential Employees Manual for the first time in more than a decade. They also voted in support of a separate ordinance amendment reclassifying the position of senior personnel analyst to “talent acquisition and training lead.”
Both city-proposed legislative items now advance to the full Board of Alders for further review, potential amendments, and potential final votes.
CAO Regina Rush-Kittle, HR manager Marcela Garcia and Acting Controller Gormany.
Debating the addition of a talent acquisition director and bumps to city staff salaries, Finance Committee alders had top of mind just how many vacancies city government continues to have. At a recent press conference about last fiscal year’s budget surplus, Mayor Justin Elicker and Acting Controller Michael Gormany said that the city has around 231 vacancies among 1,407 full-time positions, including at the police and fire departments.
At Thursday night’s meeting, the committee alders heard from city Chief of Staff Sean Matteson, Acting Controller and City Budget Director Gormany and city Human Resources manager Marcela Garcia on proposals to create new positions in the HR department and also update the city’s Executive Management & Confidential Employees Manual.
Thursday’s favorable vote for department head salary ranges come as the city has recently approved a number of ratified collective bargaining agreements with various city unions, including Locals 884 and 3144, which include pay increases.
“Alders last voted to update this manual in 2011 and we have not kept up with the times,” Gormany said.
Through these updates, city officials would make the manual gender-neutral, increase salary ranges for city executives and also attach an annual cost of living adjustment so that some positions receive automatic pay increases every year.
Currently, most executives in city government are internal hires who used to be members of the Local 3144 union, meaning they had automatic pay raises built into their contracts as well as cost of living adjustments. Those same benefits do not apply to the executive schedule, meaning there are executive employees who make less than their staff.
Through this proposed change, executive employees can receive an annual pay increase based on their evaluations and will also receive a cost of living adjustment.
During a May public hearing that the Finance Committee held on this very same proposal to update the city’s executive employee manual, city staff distributed to alders handouts with specific pay range changes. Those included:
- Increasing the salary range for “key employees” from $100,000-$169,600 to $116,750-$198,008. Examples of city employees in that category include police chief (approved FY24 salary: $173,000), fire chief ($173,000), and health director ($148,000).
- Increasing the salary range for “E9” employees from $73,560-$132,920 to $85,881-$155,184. Examples of city employees in that category include city librarian ($145,000), youth & rec director ($126,000), and building official ($122,500).
- Increasing the salary range for “E5” employees from $60,668-$105,063 to $70,830-$122,661. Examples of city employees in that category include director of communications ($94,500), personnel director ($103,000), and elderly services director ($94,500).
- Creating a new salary range, dubbed “E10,” which would be from $105,000 to $165,000. That would apply to such positions as chief administrator officer ($140,000), community services administrator ($135,000), economic development administrator ($135,000), and chief of staff ($135,000).
Alders asked Gormany and Matteson on Thursday night about the formal evaluation process since executive employees do not have a formalized system currently. Matteson told the alders that he would confer with department heads and HR to provide better information to the full board before their final vote.
The city is also asking the Board of Alders to create a director of Talent Acquisition to ensure that staff who are hired to fill the current vacancies will remain at post through the first few weeks of their job.
According to Garcia, this director position is becoming industry standard in municipal governments as workers continue to reconsider the conditions they wish to work in post the COVID-19 pandemic. The new director of talent acquisition will also be a resource for workers in ensuring that they continue to grow in their jobs.
“People are coming on board, they want to know there’s growth, they want to know there’s ways forward, but you have to teach them how to do that,” Garcia said.
“We don’t want people to start their jobs and have a few rough first days and then not stay on,” she added.
East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked why the HR department was asking for the creation of this position outside of the regular budget process to which Garcia told Alders that she herself had started in January and is now working to address the needs of her office as quickly as possible.
The position will also be responsible for handling unemployment claims with city employees.