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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 11-30-2000APPROVED 5115101 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPECIAL MEETING NOVEMBER 30, 2000 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a work session on Thursday, November 30, 2000 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr. and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Alice M. Gordon, Stephen H. Halkiotis, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant to the County Manager Greg Wilder and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (all other staff members will be identified appropriately below) 1. Courtesy Review of Hillsborough Project fA Southern Season) Planning Director Craig Benedict said that this was an opportunity to have a courtesy review of a plan submitted to the Town of Hillsborough. This project, known as A Southern Season, is planned for one of the entranceways into Hillsborough. He explained a process that has been discussed with the Town of Hillsborough, which provides for a courtesy review of projects that are submitted for the EDDs of Orange County. This project is at the intersection of US 70 Business and New NC 86. Hillsborough held a public hearing last Tuesday, November 28`". Next Tuesday, December 5t", the Hillsborough Planning Board will review this project. Tonight the Commissioners have an opportunity to develop some comments and submit them for the Hillsboraugh Planning Board to take into consideration next Tuesday. He said that there were new regulations so the application submitted to Hillsborough was weak in a few areas. This application needs some work because the applicant was not familiar with the new standards approved by the Town of Hillsborough based on work done by the work group. The site is 24 acres. Phase I is 12 acres, Phase II is six acres, and Phase III is four acres. Phase I is to build a 96,000 square foot building for manufacturing and distribution. There would be a private entrance off of Cates Court. The application focused mostly on Phase I, but not enough information was available for Phase II and Phase III. Craig Benedict and Economic Development Director Dianne Reid developed some comments. The comments suggest that there should be a certain amount of open space in each phase. Also, the types of uses should be identified. The land for Phases II and III is currently 100°~ wooded, so there is going to have to be additional sensitivity in the development. A recreational amenity, such as a walkway, has also been suggested. There are some concerns about parking and the right-of-ways also. One major consideration the applicant did not address is the traffic on NC 86. Craig Benedict noted that there is a weakness in the landscaping plan that was submitted by A Southern Season in that there is only afive-foot strip allocated far landscaping around the building. The building is 600 feet long, 160 feet wide and 30 feet high. He suggests that the roofline be raised in three places to allow for landscaping enhancements. The applicant did not provide for truck traffic coming in and going out with shipments. Craig Benedict said that Phases II and III need to have some sort of architectural theme for the site. The primary purpose of the entranceway district in Hillsborough and Orange County was to provide a good aesthetic appeal which has three areas - signage, architectural, and landscaping. This project has weaknesses in these three areas. The site does have water and sewer. Orange County is also suggesting an emergency access over to US 70. The water plans involve asix-inch water line. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is enthusiastic about seeing A Southern Season staying in Orange County. He feels that with same architectural changes that it will look nice. It is a clean business, which does not pollute or use a lot of water. He said that it complements the Triangle Sportsplex, which is right behind it and that it would be nice to have a pedestrian pathway from the building to the Sportsplex. Commissioner Gordon asked about the intersection of NC 86 and US 70 and the sight distance. She asked what would be done with this intersection. Craig Benedict said that a right turn lane was being suggested. Also, the road will be realigned with Elizabeth Brady Road. Commissioner Gordan feels that the development should be configured so that the intersection can be made safer than it is now. Commissioner Brown made reference to Phase II and III and asked what was planned. Craig Benedict said that the planned development would indicate what would go in those phases. He said that there are two areas that are fully wooded. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board could recommend that the developer put a traffic light at the intersection of NC86 and US70. He asked Craig Benedict if, based on his experience in working with developers, how he would describe the developer's proposal. Craig Benedict said that he does not feel the developer went through the special regulations. He feels that the developer did not see the plan for the entranceways because they would have enhanced it. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis that this is the kind of economic development the County has been trying to achieve. He said that we still have not adequately addressed phased plans. Also, we need to make it clear that there are standards that we consider basic standards. Commissioner Jacobs asked about interconnectivity and Craig Benedict said that the only interconnectivity is across Cates Creek. He asked if the burm eliminated the possibility of having sidewalks. Craig Benedict said that the sidewalks would not go in Phase I but could be included in Phases II and III. The Board will support the staff working with Hillsborough Planning Director Margaret Hauth and will submit the comments as presented and amended as stated above. 2. Employee Pay and Benefits Personnel Director Elaine Holmes made this presentation. The Board completed a comprehensive review of pay and benefits on 1998-99 and had reached consensus on the elements of the pay and benefits plan. The Board adopted atwo-year plan that covered last year and this year. The purpose of this work session is to consider directions for the upcoming two years, which would be 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. She presented two questions for the Board's discussion - Is the Board satisfied as to current directions? and, Are there any new or unachieved objectives the Board wishes to pursue? In the past two years, the Board approved cost-of-living increases of 2°~ and 2.75°1°, approved the in-range increase as a half step {about 2.5°fo), established Meritorious Service Awards for superior and exceptional accomplishments, and initiated an employee 401 {k} contribution. The Board also added two personal leave days and addressed the pay of the County's lowest salaried employees by setting a minimum salary of $20,798 for a permanent employee. The pay and benefit plan has been very successful. Some key elements for future consideration are cost of living, the labor market, recruitment, and present employee salaries. It has become increasingly difficult to be competitive in the market place and maintain equity with the current staff. The report as presented provides information on Cafeteria benefits, 401 (k) plan contribution, vacation buy back, domestic partners, and early retirement incentives. John Link asked that the County Commissioners give staff guidance on what the County Commissioners would like to see changed in the plan, 401(k), cafeteria plan, etc. The staff would like some direction sa they can work an these items between now and budget time. Chair Carey asked that the County Commissioners indicate what they do not like about the plan and what they want to keep in the plan. He feels that the County needs to do a classification study. Commissioner Brown said that what we did two years ago set the stage. She would like to see the 401 (k} contribution increased. Regarding the classification study, she said that Chapel Hill just did a study and asked if every County must do a study or if we could get information from other counties. Elaine Holmes said that a study would involve having each employee do an updated description of their duties and there would be an evaluation and assessment of the duties, a comparison of the jobs with each other and a comparison of those jobs with the data in the market place. She said that a pay classification plan could be done in one year and addressed in the budget far 2002-03. Commissioner Brown made reference to page G-5 and how an increase in the 401 (k} could be enhanced. She said that looking at the comparison in the information, to increase it to 3°~, which is average, is a huge amount of money. It would be about $400,000 in addition to the $15.00 the County is contributing for each employee for 24 paydays. Commissioner Brown asked how it would affect the lower paid employees if a percentage was chosen for the 401(k). Elaine Holmes said that it would not give an extra benefit to the lower salaried. Commissioner Jacobs agrees that the plan put in place two years ago has worked well. He also agrees with the comments about the 401 (k}. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the question "Are there any new or unachieved objectives the Board wishes to pursue?" and said that this would be the place to build in an active training program for employees to advance themselves. He also mentioned the possibility of subsidizing daycare far the lowest paid employees. Regarding meritorious pay, the employee consortium appreciates what the County Commissioners do but they do not feel that the meritorious service awards were fairly administered. Chair Carey made reference to the meritorious service awards and said that he was also concerned about this. He is not sure the award is accomplishing what the Board intended. Commissioner Jacobs said that it seems that when he reviewed the meritorious service awards given last year, there were some departments that had given it to everyone and some that did not give it to anyone. He feels there may be other ways to allocate meritorious awards. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the pay for performance and if the County's pay system was a pay for performance system. Elaine Holmes said that our pay plan mainly tries to deal with the rate of market factors. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to an article about Chatham County and its pay plan. He would like to have a conversation about taking some of this analysis a step further. He feels we should analyze the functions themselves and the structure of the government. There are ways where we could look at a more holistic approach to building in incentives and giving employees more of a sense of being empowered. He said that a pay and compensation study would fit in with the broader vision. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he has not seen any body of human beings who participated in any kind of meritorious service award program that had total consensus that it was just wonderful. He is personally opposed to this. The amount of money given for meritorious service awards was $100,000 and the money budgeted for 401 (k) was $215,000. He said that if our department heads are not exceptional and if our Manager is not exceptional then they should not be in those positions. He does not think that department heads should be candidates for meritorious service awards. He would rather see this money taken and put into the 401 (k) program. He feels it is significantly subjective and counterproductive. If we are not paying department heads enough, we need to correct it and pay them. He feels we need to expand the 401 (k} plan. He wants to be sure that Orange County is an affirmative action employer and has a plan in place that assists physically and mentally challenged citizens and Spanish speaking citizens in becoming employed in Orange County government. Commissioner Gordon feels that one of the most significant things we want to do is a countywide pay and classification study. She feels we are going in the right direction and feels that the 401 (k) should be enhanced. As far as the meritorious service awards, she would not give up on it yet. She would like to find out what the problems are and figure out a way to reward those employees who are really doing a great job. Regarding the countywide pay and classification study, she feels that we need to lack at the structure of County government by doing a management study. She supports the current plan with same tweaks to see how we can enhance the present plan. Chair Carey asked about the employee consortium and some of the comments that were made. Commissioner Jacobs said that there were maybe 12 questions and only one or two were about meritorious service awards. The meritorious service award was something that people identified as not working well. He talked about partnering with organizations in the community to provide a transition for Spanish speaking citizens to learn to speak English. He has noticed that Hispanic and handicapped employees are not prevalent in County government. Jahn Link said that there have been changes in the organization with the addition of one new department. He agrees with looking at the organization of County government and doing a pay classification study. The two go hand in hand. He has heard from the Board that it wants to keep what is good in the plan and improve the 401 (k} contribution. In terms of in-range, that is based on proficient performance. Proficient is defined as doing your job and doing it well. He feels that the merit system is the most troubling. He spoke about his personal experience with merit awards and that in 1972 his supervisor could not give him a merit award because it was not his turn. There is still a challenge to reward high performers. He asked that the County Commissioners let staff look at the system and bring back a recommendation. He asked Elaine Holmes to bring back information on how Wake County does their merit program. Commissioner Jacobs asked John Link what he feels about pay for performance systems. John Link said that it is a very difficult system. The County now has a variation of evaluation. All of the pay increases are based on some evaluation process. Chair Carey said that he supports the general direction we are going. He feels we should stay the course for the next two years. Although he has concerns about how the merit system is implemented, he recognizes that department heads have different criteria for evaluation. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County has the perception that there is a big bureaucracy in County government that needs cutting. We cannot just give people numbers without giving them haw the services have expanded over the last few years. We need to da a better jab of explaining to people why the County cuts out some things and expands some others. Commissioner Halkiotis said that if we do an organizational study, he hopes we will look at it holistically. John Link made reference to the 401 (k) program and said that the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners is supporting a bill to reduce the employee contribution from 6% to 5% for the retirement system. This 1 °lo could be used as a match far 401 (k}. Chair Carey would like to see the $15.00 stay in place far the 401 (k) rather than choosing a percentage. He thinks that a percentage would be counter to the objective that we are trying to achieve for the lower salaried employees. Commissioner Brown asked if Elaine Holmes could come back with other possibilities for 401 (k) and a configuration of the study, which would be expanded. Also, she would like to see a way to make the merit program more acceptable. Commissioner Jacobs said that maybe we should work toward a goal of dealing with the gross inequities in the pay and salary study that was furnished to the County Commissioners last month. The meritorious service awards could be phased out while another program is phased in. Commissioner Brown asked if any of the meritorious service awards could be connected with the Commissioners goals and John Link said that there is only a handful of departments who have goals. He said that we are in a market where bonuses are given out and our employees see what others are making. For the most part, he wants to keep the people we have now. He asked that we keep working together on a plan that will be fair to everyone. He asked that he be permitted to work on the merit issue. Commissioner Jacobs said that as we go forward with what we are doing, the competitive marketplace might also be changing. He made reference to how the County could help the employees improve their skills sa that our own people can fill some of the vacant positions. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would be interested in knowing from staff where we need to be looking when doing an organizational study. Some departments have to deal with the state and it can became complex. Commissioner Brown asked about the pay equity retention fund. John Link said that the pay equity retention fund has been successful this last year. Commissioner Brown asked about the vacant positions and the categories. Elaine Holmes said that the jobs where there is some repeat recruitment are paramedics, child protective services, public health services, etc. They will use some money to increase the pay for some of those hard- to-fill positions. Commissioner Brown asked about the security of County positions and if this is looked at as a positive for working for the County. Elaine Holmes said that people do look at the job security as a positive. There was some discussion about County employees having the option of putting money toward daycare, etc. instead of 401 (k}. ADJOURNMENT With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting will be held on December 4, 2000 at 7:30 p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in the new courthouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC