2/24/2021 - Meeting Minutes
Page 1
Meeting Minutes
Citizens’ Compensation Advisory Committee
February 24, 2021
Members Present: Marlene Sloan
Jeff Worthington
Jeff Herring
Ray Schelble
Mike Terry
Jana Bake
Members Excused: Brandon Dew
Staff Present: David Salazar, Compensation Administrator
Eleonore Jackson, Classification & Compensation Analyst
Guests: Joe McBride, SLPA president
A recording of these proceedings is on file and available by request from the SLC- HR Department.
Meeting Open & Welcome: Chair-member Jeff Worthington called the meeting to order and
established a quorum was present. The chair declared this meeting will be an electronic meeting
pursuant to the Chair’s determination that conducting a public meeting at a physical location
presents a substantial risk to the health and safety of those who may be present at the anchor
location.
Review & adopt: The committee members reviewed and unanimously approved the minutes
from the February 2, 2021 meeting. The motion was made by Ray Schelble and seconded by
Jana Bake.
Public Comment: Salt Lake Police Association president Joe McBride was introduced and
addressed the Committee. Joe cited concerns with compensation, as well as long challenges
with the current environment, as among the specific challenges the city experiences when
attempting to recruit and retain Police Officers. With approximately 80 position vacancies, Joe
believes the city must focus its attention on entry-level and top-level pay in order to be
successful at retaining officers going forward.
Discussion of topics: David Salazar began the discussion following the final draft the new year’s
annual report prepared for committee review.
Highlights from the discussion
• Introduction: In addition to updating the Table of Contents, David pointed out new committee
member names were added under the Purpose and Introduction at the beginning of the report.
• Section I: WorldatWork Salary Budget Forecast: David reported this section includes the
committee’s request to reference articles highlighting the results of surveys conducted to
measure the impact of COVID-19. Marlene Sloan noted a few minor language changes, including
the deletion of unnecessary words.
Page 2
Ray Schelble noted concerns with proposing lump-sum bonus payments ahead of base pay
increases, particularly for public safety employees. Jeff Herring suggested changing the order to
emphasize market and base pay adjustments should be considered first, followed by the
committee’s recommendation for lump-sum bonus payments if base pay increases are not
possible.
Q: Jana Bake asked David to clarify whether the recommendation to make market adjustments is not
abandoned and will still be addressed in the report.
A: David Salazar explained a separate section focused on discussion and recommendations related to
market adjustments are included in a later section of the report.
• Section II: Salt Lake City Recruitment, Turnover and Labor Statistics: David reviewed the specific
updates and revisions noted by the committee for this section, including revisions/corrections to
CPI statistics and member Brandon Dew’s request to add a 5- or 10-year average turnover and
retention rate in this section.
• Section III: City Living Wage: Eleonore informed the Committee the latest release of MIT’s 2021
living wage calculator was still not yet available as of the date of this meeting. David mentioned
he and Eleonore would continue to monitor and update the new living wage rate, if one is
released before the final report deadline; otherwise, the Committee agreed to include a note in
this section explaining no new estimate was available at the time the report was finalized by the
Committee. Jeff Herring suggested an addendum noting any potential change to the estimated
living wage rate could be issued by the Committee, if necessary, for city leaders to consider at a
later date.
• Section IV: Local Market Pay Comparison: Eleonore outlined the language revisions and updates
made since the Committee’s last review of this section of the report, including consensus to
update the benchmark pay guidelines to the following.
New pay guidelines.
To draw greater attention to the Committee’s suggested compensation philosophy, especially as it
pertains to public safety, Mike Terry and Marlene Sloan suggested separating the Committee’s
recommendation for this section as follows—
“Furthermore, the committee recommends the city consider itself competitive when data
indicates actual median employee pay rates plus the overall additional economic value of (public
sector) benefits equals 100% compared to market.”
“In the case of the city’s public safety officers and firefighters, the committee supports
the city’s need to distinguish itself as a local area pay leader due to its distinction as
Utah’s largest city and role as capital city. Therefore, it is recommended the city
maintain a relative pay position including actual median employee pay rates plus the
overall additional economic value of (public sector) benefits between 105-120%
Page 3
compared to the local area market.
Ray Schelble suggested the Committee consider ways to highlight the Committee’s specific concerns with
turnover for Police and Fire positions, both in the recommendation for this section as well as in Section II
of the report. Mike Terry recommended the more specific details associated with public safety turnover
could also be augmented in Section II of the report.
Committee members discussed challenges associated with addressing the contrast in high turnover the
city is experiencing particularly with Police Officers and current market pay information, which shows
SLC’s Police Officers leading pay position based on market median. To better inform city leaders about
concerns with public safety turnover, Marlene Sloan recommended including the specific turnover
statistics previously reviewed by the committee in an appendix of the report.
• Section V: Pay Equity: Eleonore Jackson explained she updated this section, including a summary
of the pay equity audit report, as it was issued by Payfactors to the Committee in November
2020. Marlene Sloan suggested incorporating language to provide greater detail and explanation
around employees initially flagged for potential pay discrepancies in Payfactors’ final report.
Jeff Worthington thanked David and Eleonore for all their work done on this year’s reports and called for
a motion to approve the report. Jeff Herring made a motion the committee approve the annual report
including all edits discussed in this meeting; his motion was seconded by Mike Terry. The vote by the full
committee was unanimous in the affirmative.
David Salazar shared the tentative date for presentation of the 2021 annual report is scheduled to take
place on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
Prior to adjourning, the committee thanked Marlene Sloan for her service as a committee member.
Marlene confirmed her role with the committee would be completed commensurate with the end of her
term on August 31, 2021.
Unfinished business: None
Confirmed next meeting dates:
− Tuesday, May 11, 2021 from 4:00pm – 5:00pm
− Tuesday, October 5, 2021 from 4:00pm – 5:00pm