City’s Employee Pay Plan is Incomplete and Dysfunctional
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal. Inc
Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu addressed an issue of concern with City Human Resources Director Isabel Perez during the monthly departmental reports at the Eagle Pass City Council meeting held on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 regarding the lack of full implementation of the City of Eagle Pass’ Employee Pay Plan.
Mayor Cantu asked Perez where the city stood on the Employee Pay Plan in regards to the City of Eagle Pass Police Department.
“I’ve had an opportunity to speak to several of them and their concern continues to rely on the issue of the Pay Plan not being complete or hasn’t been fully implemented,” said Mayor Cantu to Perez.
Perez replied that part the problem was due to the fact that they (Human Resources) had not received parts of the job descriptions needed for the Eagle Pass Police Department to be included in the Employee Pay Plan.
“I know that the Chief is currently working on the Sergeant and Detective ones. We should get those within the next week or two,” said Perez.
City Councilwoman Gloria E. Hernandez asked what was the consensus on the Employee Pay Plan.
“There’s been some concern as far as the length of time that it has taken to finalize what’s going on with the Police Department. I guess there have been some concerns even with the Fire Department. I just don’t know where we are with that. The last time that it came to us it’s been back and forth on minor issues with some of the job descriptions that I think we need to finalize. I don’t know why we haven’t been able to do that,” said Mayor Cantu.
Perez answered that she would not be able to answer that and stated that Eagle Pass Police Chief Arturo Guajardo might be able to shed a brighter light on that concern and changes on the job descriptions of the Police Department.
Perez stated that once she had the job descriptions she would be able to present them to finalize the process and that possible changes in the job descriptions also meant changes in the salary structure depending on the changes.
Perez further noted that the implementation of the Employee Pay Plan in its entirety is pending a final review of the job descriptions to cover all bases.
“Some changes will affect the compensation of the position,” said Perez.
Mayor Pro-Tem Luis E. Sifuentes questioned if there was a time frame on all the adjustments and the implementation of the Employee Pay Plan as it had been approved on December 2013.
“It’s been over a year and we are still making adjustments because all we have is a frame work,” said Sifuentes.
Mayor Pro-Tem Sifuentes asked what is the problem? Is it the directors? Is it the Committee or what is it?
Mayor Cantu stated that as a member of the Employee Pay Plan Committee there are issues such as the Committee is not a fair concept of the entire organization and the way the Committee was comprised.
“ I do believe that we need to look at it and move it to finalize it. We have several employees that continue to ask about this pay plan, employees that have brought concern to me about they were hired at a rate before this pay plan came into effect and then now with the new pay plan they have been either deducted in pay or have been demoted and that is not supposed to happen,” said Mayor Cantu.
City Manager Gloria Barrientos asked Mayor Cantu if he didn’t mind forwarding that information to her immediately to look into it and address it.
Councilman Rudy Villalpando added that he concurred with the Mayor and that the pay plan had been adopted to make sure that the employees were paid a fair wage. “I thought we were going to pay them more and I’ve noticed that some probably got paid more but that some others that have been there and are doing their job, their pay were lowered,” pointed Villalpando. “I don’t think that was the intent of the Pay Plan,” complained Villalpando.
Perez stated in December 2013 when the employee pay plan was implemented the Department heads who did not have their job descriptions finalized were notified that there was a possibility that the employees pay rate was going to change if there were changes to the job descriptions.
Councilwoman Hernandez stated “I hear Ms. Barrientos say send your concerns to me. So I’m sending my concerns to you, Ms. Barrientos, this needs to be fixed. It’s over a year and it hasn’t gotten fixed so if they’re having problems, I know we are supposed to look at you and we are looking at you to get it fixed. Whatever, trouble-shooting you must do, please tend to it,” argued Hernandez.
“I know if we are looking at officers to be hired this plan needs to be properly in place to where it’s not affecting the morale of other officers that are currently employed as well. I think that’s a responsibility that we all have as a governing body and administration,” said Mayor Cantu.
Eagle Pass Police Chief Albert Guajardo addressed City Council regarding the police officers’ concerns and questions on the employee pay plan.
“One of the questions I have asked is, what am I comparing these job descriptions to? I did make a statement then that I would not approve any job description or finalize any Pay Plan if it meant that it was going to adversely affect and lower the pay rate of some of our officers or staff because it has happened,” said Police Chief Guajardo.
Chief Guajardo highlighted that he has one or two employees that saw a reduction in pay once the Employee Pay Plan was initiated.
Guajardo emphasized that job descriptions in any civil service capacities change from day to day depending on where the person is assigned to.
“My question has always been what am I supposed to compare the job descriptions to in order to make a fair assumption of what our officers need to be paid,” noted Guajardo.
“I do make recommendations and support when we do finalize this and officers get paid what they deserve to get paid because as employees already getting paid out of the new pay plan an officer is 24/7 365 days out of the week and we need to move forward and approve and finalize their salaries because we had approved that already,” argued Police Chief Guajardo.
Guajardo again emphasized what was he supposed to compare the job descriptions to and that he would support the pay plan if it was based on his recommendation for his department because it could possibly affect officers’ salaries in a negative manner.
“I just want to make sure that our officers and our employees get compensated like any other employee that has been approved to move forward,” noted Guajardo.
Mayor Cantu added that as a governing body the City has a responsibility to revisit an issue that could be affecting an employee or at an administrative level to ensure that it is following all regulations in a fair manner.
Chief Guajardo was named Police Chief after the employee pay plan had been established and the set job descriptions for the police department had been implemented. He is currently assessing those job descriptions to fit in to the realities of the duties of the department and employees that he administers to set a reasonable structure for compensation for the employees.
The Eagle Pass City Council had contracted a private compensation pay plan company to conduct a detailed survey and report regarding the City’s Employees Pay Plan.
According to the final report on the City Employees Pay Plan, City of Eagle Pass employees are paid in the 23rd to 28th percentile compared to similarly employed employees in a West Texas labor market, which is comprised mostly of rural and small communities. The new City Employees Pay Plan proposes to raise the City of Eagle Pass employees pay to a 40th percentile within a two year period. The estimated cost to the City of Eagle Pass to implement the new City Employees Pay Plan is $450,000.
The new City Employees Pay Plan proposes a three to four percent pay increase to City of Eagle Pass employees during the following two years to bring their pay to the 40th percentile in a similar labor market.
The purpose of the City Employees Pay Plan study and report was to evaluate the City of Eagle Pass employee pay compared to similar entities and private industry in a similar labor market and assist the City on retaining its trained, experienced employees.
Mayor Cantu stated that the City of Eagle Pass provides extensive training to all its employees and expends considerable monies on training them, but many employees later leave City employment, causing the City of Eagle Pass to lose valuable and experienced employees.
The City consultant stated in December 2013 that Eagle Pass is growing and companies are looking at the City’s labor market as attractive, citing one local manufacturer who is expanding their manufacturing facilities and hiring more local labor. The consultant noted that although the City of Eagle Pass pay was not as high as other entities in the local labor market, the positive is that City jobs are more satisfying than those higher paying jobs.
The City’s Police Department was without a Chief of Police for some time as former Police Chief Tony Castaneda was terminated by then Interim City Manager Gloria Barrientos and a new Interim Police Chief was not hired until April 22, 2013 when Barrientos selected Bruce Mills.
Police Chief Alberto Guajardo was not hired as head of the Police Department until Friday, October 17, 2013 , giving Guajardo just a few weeks to attempt to provide the critical employee job descriptions within the Police Department, which was impossible to do.
What is evident is that the City Employee Pay Plan is incomplete and unfair to some employees whose job descriptions are incorrect or incomplete causing their salary to be reduced from their previous rate before implementation of the pay plan. The purpose of the City Employee Pay Plan was to slowly increase the City employees pay over a period of years to bring their pay to competitive market rates within West Texas standards, not to reduce their pay. The City’s Employee Pay Plan appears to be dysfunctional to certain employees, particularly among the Police and Fire Departments.
