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Meeting in the courtroom because the commissioner’s room was used for voting, the Cook County Commissioners had a lengthy conversation about the wage and benefit study that is in the formative stages.
Commissioner David Mills gave the backdrop for the six or seven meetings that have taken place by a working committee. The committee is comprised of employees representing department heads, supervisors, commissioners, and bargaining units that were formed to select other counties to use in a comparable study to Cook County. Out of Minnesota’s 87 counties, Mills said the group winnowed the list to 53, then 26, and finally 20 counties. The group tried to find similarities between the counties, although he noted that on the surface, Hennepin County wouldn’t seem to have much in common with Cook County. However, when the group looked closely at Hennepin County, Mills said there were enough comparables to put it in the mix.
The working committee selected benchmark communities to use for market analysis. These include Lake of the Woods County, Scott County, Olmsted County, Ramsey County, Washington County, Hennepin County, Beltrami County, Cass County, Lake County, Goodhue County, Sherburne County, Dakota County, Anoka County, Becker County, Carver County, Ottertail County, Freeborn County, Aitkin County, Crow Wind County, and St. Louis County.
Mills said the working group used five factors in picking comparable counties. Those factors are medium home value, medium household income, expenditures to population, rental rates and hospitality tax. Mills said the committee “didn’t know how far we could or should narrow it.” But, he added, “You don’t want to weed too many out” because each county would have more weight when you start weeding them out.
“We weren’t trying to approach this with a specific end in mind. We were trying to approach this where things land. We, as a board, will have to make decisions. If this shows 200 percent or 180 percent of what we pay, we aren’t going to just take this on. We’ll say, okay, that was interesting. Maybe this list wasn’t helpful, but it gives us something to go on.”
This list of counties has enough diversity in it, said Mills. “It has some heavy hitters and light hitters.”
The group was wonderful to work with. Very patient,” added Mills.
Earlier in the year, the county hired David Drown Associates Human Resources (DDAHR) to conduct a market analysis and pay grid calibration for county employees.
Commissioner Stacy Hawkins said she has doubts about the hospitality tax comparable used in the study. She asked several questions about how the committee decided upon that metric and several other metrics they used. Mills said her questions were good, agreeing there are different lodging taxes in the state, and the counties can use those taxes differently. He said it wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, but they were looking for other counties like Cook County that had a lot of tourism.
In the board packet, Drown Associates’ information stated that the study’s project objectives include ensuring jobs are classified appropriately and meet FLSA guidelines. Also, guidelines call for making sure county policies and procedures keep the compensation system up to date, ensuring pay is competitive and equitably structured, and developing an easy-to-understand and administer compensation system.
Drown Associates pointed out that this is not a staffing needs study. Not an organizational structure study; not a strategy to eliminate positions, and finally, this is not a strategy to reduce or increase pay.
Information gained from studying the benchmark communities will help determine if Cook County’s pay structure aligns with other counties. Further discussion of pay structure and philosophy will be held in future meetings.
In the end commissioners approved the project list to gather data to use for market analysis.
Housing grant
Commissioners approved a $586,624 subgrant from the County American Rescue Plan Act to help fund the Cook County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. The money will be used to increase the availability of affordable housing in the county.
County Administrator James Joerke explained that the money came from the 2021 federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for pandemic response and activities. The county received $1,061,124 from the ARPA grant. In December 2021, the county approved spending the money but then approved a revised budget in April 2022 which included $586,624 to support “Water/Wastewater Infrastructure to Support Affordable Housing.”
A ruling by the US Treasury on April 1, 2022, allows local governments greater latitude in using the ARPA dollars, thus allowing the county to use the money for a wider variety of purposes dedicated to developing public housing.
Jason Hale, Executive Director of the HRA, came before the commissioners to answer questions. He told commissioners that the HRA proposes using the majority of the ARPA funds to fill funding gaps resulting from high construction costs, such as infrastructure and foundation work. Amending the budget as requested would ensure the flexibility needed to assist housing development and leverage other resources on a project-by-project basis.
Hale noted the HRA was working with the City of Grand Marais to obtain roughly 10 acres of land along the Gunflint Trail for housing development. But before the property can be turned over to the HRA, a survey must be completed. The survey will cost $15,000, and other pre-development costs include soil borings, title commitments, platting, and wetland delineation. The ARPA grant can be used to pay these costs, noted Hale.
The county board approved the request and the HRA Board, led by Hale, will oversee the spending of the ARPA funds.
There is no impact on the local levy from passing this resolution.
Consent agenda items
*Commissioners approved a motion of support for the application for On-Sale Wine and Strong Beer license for White Pine North LLC.
*Deputy Sheriff Jamie Greens’ resignation was accepted. Her last day on the job was August 8.
*A resolution to accept a $7500 Veterans Service Operational Enhancement grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs passed unanimously. This is an annual grant used to supplement the county program. The 2023 Workplan includes medical mileage reimbursement, training, advertising, veterans’ outreach, and equipment purchase.
*The bid for $5,880 to install a metal roof on the timber bridge by Liljestrand Drywall and Painting was approved. The bridge is between the community playground and tennis courts.
*Isak Hansen & Sons was awarded the contract for $97,140 to provide 2,000 yards of winter sand to be used by the highway department.
Cook County Highway Engineer Robbie Hass asked the county board to approve the final payment of $88,893.25 to Northwest Asphalt & Maintenance for bituminous pavement and crack sealing county roads. The board approved the price.
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