Title
Director of Human Resources recommending the Board:
1) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign the revised Salary and Benefits Resolution for Unrepresented Employees - Resolution 016-2022 effective the first pay period following adoption;
2) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution 017-2022 revising the Salary Schedule for unrepresented classifications effective the first pay period following adoption;
3) Authorize the Chair to sign an amendment to the Memorandum of Agreement between the County of El Dorado and Donald Ashton establishing the compensation, benefits, and other terms of employment for his continued employment as the Chief Administrative Officer; and
4) Direct the Human Resources Department and the Auditor-Controller’s Office to administer and implement the Resolutions’ provisions.
FUNDING: Primarily General Fund with some positions being partially or fully funded by other sources.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Revising the Unrepresented Salary Schedule and Increasing Deferred Compensation
In November 2021, the Board of Supervisors approved and adopted the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the County of El Dorado and the El Dorado County Employees’ Association, Local 1, AFSCME Counsel 57 which increased the base wages for benchmark classifications and internally tied non-benchmark classifications to approximately 3.0% (+/- 1%) behind the median of the market. Consistent with this direction and in an effort to address 1) the County’s difficulty in recruiting and retaining qualified employees, and 2) salary compaction, Human Resources recommends the following:
1) Effective the first pay period following Board adoption, increase the base wages of Confidential Classifications to within 3% (+/-1%) of the market median as specified in the Resolution. The +/- 1% accounts for rounding all total compensation elements which is standard methodology for compensation analysis and consistent with past practice. This will result in an estimated $14,500 in increased annual costs.
2) Effective the first pay period following Board adoption, increase the Deferred Compensation contribution from 2.5% to 4.5% for Elected Department Heads (EL), Appointed Department Heads (UD), and Administrative Management (UM), with the exception of the following classifications: Sheriff/Coroner/Public Administrator, Undersheriff, District Attorney, Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender, and Chief Administrative Officer. This will result in approximately $268,000 in increased annual costs.
3) Effective the first full pay period of January 2023, all unrepresented classifications, except for those excluded below, shall receive a 2.0% base wage increase effective the first full pay period of January 2023. The excluded unrepresented classifications are: Chief Administrative Officer, Sheriff/Coroner/Public Administrator, District Attorney, Undersheriff, Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender, Sr. Deputy County Counsel, Deputy County Counsel, Associate County Counsel, Executive Assistant, all classifications designated Extra-Help (EH) on the salary schedule, and all classifications that include one or more allocated positions that are represented by a bargaining unit. The estimated annual cost of this increase is $331,000.
Revising the Salary and Benefits Resolution for Unrepresented Employees
To ensure the Board’s direction is enacted on an ongoing basis, Human Resources has prepared a revised Salary and Benefits Resolution for Unrepresented Employees to be approved by the Board. A summary of the changes are below; however, it should be noted that the majority of changes are formatting, reorganization of sections, and re-wording to eliminate inconsistency.
1. Addition of language specifying base salary linkage of the Chief Administrative Officer: Step 5 of the base salary for the Chief Administrative Officer shall be set at two percent (2.0%) above the Sheriff/Coroner/Public Administrator’s base salary. The approximate annual cost of this increase is $15,850.
2. Incorporation and superseding of existing Resolution 153-2021, which established that the base salary of the unrepresented classification Executive Assistant in the Confidential Unit be set and maintained equal to that of the represented classification of Administrative Technician in the General Unit.
3. Modification of existing language pertaining to on-call and call-back to clarify compensation for Extra-Help employees.
4. Addition of new Geographic differential, up to $400 per month, for qualified employees who reside in the Tahoe Basin (defined as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency jurisdiction boundary around Lake Tahoe). There is an estimated annual cost of $4,800 for this differential based upon current employees.
5. Modification of existing language pertaining to closure of County Buildings for county-wide consistency.
Additional “house-keeping” language changes are included in the recommended revisions.
Additional Compensation Recommendations
Deputy Director of Planning
In November 2021, several classifications received salary increases in light of the adoption of the Local 1 MOU. As a result, the Planning Manager classification in the Management (MA) bargaining unit received a salary increase in accordance with the El Dorado County Managers’ Association (EDCMA) MOU provision on anti-compaction. The Planning Manager is the highest paid subordinate classification below the Deputy Director of Planning classification. The Planning Manager classification salary increase brought its Step 1 base wage above that of the Deputy Director of Planning. Currently, the Planning Manager classification’s Step 1 base salary is 2.25% above the Deputy Director of Planning. In an effort to correct this compaction concern, the Department of Human Resources is recommending the Step 1 base wage for the Deputy Director of Planning be 15% greater than the Step 1 base wage of the Planning Manager. (See salary as specified in the Resolution). This will result in an estimated annual increased cost of $61,350.
Chief Administrative Officer
On May 24, 2016, the County of El Dorado (County) Board of Supervisors appointed Donald Ashton as Chief Administrative Officer of the County effective May 25, 2016. As part of this action, the County and Chief Administrative Officer subsequently entered into an employment agreement pursuant to El Dorado County Ordinance Code section 2.13.025 (the “Original Agreement”), which set forth the compensation, benefits and other terms of employment for the Chief Administrative Officer.
Following a positive performance evaluation on May 9, 2017, the County entered into a new Memorandum of Agreement with Mr. Ashton. That Memorandum of Agreement was effective May 23, 2017, and superseded the prior agreement.
The County and Mr. Ashton entered into a subsequent Memorandum of Agreement, effective November 7, 2017, to better align Mr. Ashton’s compensation package with market trends for similarly situated administrative heads of county governments. That Memorandum of Agreement would have expired by its own terms on November 7, 2021, at which point Mr. Ashton would have become an at-will employee without the severance compensation provided by that Memorandum of Agreement.
In furtherance of the County Charter’s directive to “retain the best qualified officers and employees,” the County and Mr. Ashton entered into a new Memorandum of Agreement, dated February 15, 2020 (the “current Memorandum of Agreement”), in order to extend the term and expiration date of the prior agreement.
The parties now desire to amend the current Memorandum of Agreement in order to better align Mr. Ashton’s compensation package with internal comparators. Accordingly, the parties hereby agree to amend Section 5 of the current Memorandum of Agreement.
The primary change to Section 5 is to provide the incumbent Chief Administrative Officer an increase to his base salary in the amount of 3% of the Chief Administrative Officer's annual salary as established by the Salary & Benefits Resolution for Unrepresented Employees, payable biweekly and subject to customary withholding. This will result in approximately $10,200 in increased annual costs. Once approved by the Board of Supervisors, this increase to base salary shall remain in effect until revoked by the Board of Supervisors or until the expiration or termination of this Agreement, whichever occurs first.
Except as otherwise amended, all terms and conditions of the current Memorandum of Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could choose not to adopt the suggestions and direct staff to provide an alternative.
The Board could decline to authorize the Chair to sign the proposed Memorandum of Agreement for the Chief Administrative Officer, in which case the existing Memorandum of Agreement would remain in full force and effect. Additionally, the Board could authorize in open session other changes to the contract; however, those changes would be subject to negotiation with the Chief Administrative Officer.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
Salary and Benefits Resolution for Unrepresented Employees was previously adopted September 21, 2021- Legistar # 21-1382.
Local 1 MOU adoption (Reso 152-2021) and Executive Assistant wage linkage and Salary Schedule adoption (Reso 153-2021), November 16, 2021 - Legistar # 21-1788.
The last CAO Memorandum of Agreement was adopted by the Board on February 15, 2020 - Legistar #: 20-0100.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Board of Supervisors - Chief Administrative Officer negotiations only
County Counsel
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The approximate annual cost of increasing total compensation for unrepresented employees is $705,700 a year in salary and benefit costs. The impact to the General Fund will likely be no more than $557,500 a year. It is anticipated that departments can absorb this cost within their current appropriations through vacancies and other salary savings, so a budget amendment is not being brought at this time. If an appropriation issue related to this increase is found during the mid-year budget report preparation, a budget amendment will be brought to the Board for approval.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
Upon Board adoption and approval, please provide one copy each of the executed Resolutions to Heather Andersen in Human Resources.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Joseph Carruesco, Director of Human Resources