09/01/2000-CC-Minutes-Work SessionMINIUTES. CITY COUNCIL - WORKSHOP
SEPTEMBER 1, 2000
PRESENT: Mayor Tommy Kincaid, Councilman Glenn Ervin, Councilman Carroll
McNeill, Councilman Craig Waggoner, Councilman Joe Higgs, Councilman
Andy Garza
OTHERS
PRE;�ENT: City Manager Jack Smith, City Secretary Rose Chavez, Administrative
Assistant Samantha Renz, Electric Superintendent Jeff Morris,
Water/Wastewater Superintendent Eddie Branham, Police Chief Curtis Amyx,
Streets/Parks Supervisor John Henderson, Vehicle Mechanic Tommy Belcher,
Code Enforcement Officer Bob Hagemann, Corey Chambers, Mark Griffith,
Woodrow Barton, Jeanette Richardson, Margaret Sands, Lois Butler, Billye
Hollingsworth, Candace Lambert, Christy Goode, Brenda Amyx, Lisa Kish,
Wendall Thomas, Ralph Amyx, Lela Amyx, Joe Falls, Beverly Riley, Mark
McNeal, Tami Taber, Sheri Reynolds, Esmeralda Wilkerson, Justin Morris,
Michael Grace, Ronnie Grace, David Pennington, Matt Lambert, Mary Potts,
Roy Potts, Jason Boldin, Ranell Quam, Terry Jones, Mike Lawler
1. Mayor Called Meeting to Order, Skip McNeill led the invocation, followed by the
Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Budget Workshop,
Pastor Skip McNeal gave the Mayor a petition from the citizens in support of the
salary increases.
Mayor indicated approximately 259 signatures on the petition.
Mayor indicated the Homerule Charter changes the way this should be done. He
indicated the process is to discuss the budget, file it with the City Secretary, discuss
the wages per position instead of per name, then hold the public hearings, and vote
on the budget whether to accept it or reject it. If it's rejected the City will keep
functioning under the old budget until a new one is adopted.
Discussion followed regarding proposed salaries.
Councilman Waggoner indicated he was in favor of the raises. He felt they should be
brought up to market value. He believes the employees are valuable and the Council
should stand behind them, make Sanger a good place to work with good wages and
good benefits.
Councilman Ervin indicated he would support the raises, but maybe not give it all at
once. He indicated they should leave it up to the City Manager and the department
heads to do performance reviews or evaluations, and leave it up to Jack to do the
break down off the total amount.
Councilman Garza indicated he felt a raise is necessary, he thought some of them were
out of line as far as all at one time. If that's what the citizens of Sanger want, he is
here for them. He is here for the people, but still feels it should be brought up in a
sensible manner, and not all at once.
Councilman Higgs indicated he feels the same way, he's not opposed to raises, but
some of them are low and some of them are high. It averages out to 18%, and he did
not feel anyone would give an 18% raise at one time, not even CoServ.
Councilman McNeill indicated he was not opposed to a raise, he was only concerned
about the amount of dollars, and asked what is a competitive rate, in reference to the
petition.
Mayor indicated a competitive rate can be figured lots of ways. He indicated it is
what the market bares. He indicated he ran some figures with what employees were
being paid last year, and what was proposed for those existing employees, the increase
is $202,000.00,
Discussion.
Councilman McNeill read a list of what he would propose for salary increases, and
indicated he felt that would be fair and equitable. He indicated he did not understand
why Sanger's market was any different than Whitesboro's market because they do
things the same way Sanger does.
Mayor indicated if any of the employees went looking forward a job, they would not
go North. When you go South, the wages are higher. He indicated the metroplex area
is the competition for Sanger employees.
Discussion.
Councilman Ervin suggested a fifteen percent increase on the current salary total,
turn it back over to Jack to do 10% across the board raise, then a 5% merit raise.
Councilman Higgs indicated he was against percentage raises, because that penalizes
the lower people.
Councilman Ervin indicated that was something Jack needs to work on, he did not feel
the Council should be involved, besides giving the total amount of the -increase.
Discussion regarding the 15%.
Mayor indicated according to the Charter the Council should hand the budget back,
vote on it, and let Jack be the determining factor as to who gets what.
Discussion.
Councilman Higgs indicated he would go along with a 10% increase in salaries not
including new employees, and let Jack work it out as to who gets what.
Discussion.
Councilman Garza agreed to the 15% increase, and to let Jack decide; however, he
indicated he would like to see a little bit more work put into it, where the ones that
deserve the raises get them.
Mayor indicated they could give this to Jack, and he can determine who gets what.
Brief Discussion.
Councilman Garza suggested they add 15% to the budget, not necessarily 10% now,
and 5% later, but let Jack decide how much each employee gets.
Discussion continued.
Councilman Waggoner agreed to the 15% increase, with not more than 10% on
October 1, 2000, with it being up to Jack to decide what each employee gets.
Mayor indicated it will be for Jack to determine, and we have budget.
City Manager asked if there was a specific time they wanted to allocate the 5%, he
needed to know in order to determine the dollar amount for the budget.
Council agreed on April 1, 2000.
Discussion regarding the police cars.
3. Adjourn.
ATTEST:
Rosaaie