2007-10-08 Regular Meeting and Public Hearing of LP City Council

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Council and Mayor, I am truly sorry that I have to address you this evening. It seems that as an organization we either do not care or we just don't know how to treat employees. First of all, I will give you a little history and point out some facts. In 2006, the City sponsored the Mercer Study. It was not completed on time, nor was any information shared with the employees. When the study was completed, the results did not appear favorable to some, so it was discarded. On January 8, 2007 Council voted to approve a 3.25 % raise to all employees and make it retroactive to October 1, 2006. They also asked that City Staff to produce a Benefits and Compensation Study. Mr. Joerns advised that he would have a schedule for this study at the January 22 Council Meeting. On January 22, Mr. Joerns advised that it would take two more days to produce this schedule. On August 13, 2007, at the Budget Meetings, City Staff advised that they had put $690,000 in the Budget for Employee Raises and Compensation. Mr. Joerns advised that a separate report is being prepared on the raises to give to Council at a later date. On August 27, 2007 you passed the 2007/2008 Budget, but there was no indication on how employees would get raises. By September 20, 2007, there had been no indication from anyone at the City on how or when Employee Raises would be distributed, so I filed an open records request for this information. There were meetings of City Staff and the Asst. City Attorney to not disclose this information and a request was sent to the Attorney General's Office to stall the release of this information. It is unknown how much this cost in Attorney's Fees and City resources. Government is supposed to be by the people and for the people. It should also be transparent, so there are no perceptions of improprieties. Every City that I know gives it employee raises on October 1 or January 1, but they let their employees know what is going on. Why is it that we have been working on compensation studies for the last two years, but we cannot get them completed on time. Why is it that everything is top secret. In order to improve morale, not only do we have to make the City of La Porte's pay and benefits competitive, we must give employees ownership in the organization by keeping them informed and making them feel like they belong to something. It is now October 8, 2007, we have been operating under the 200712008 Budget since October 1, but there is still no word. My only question to you tonight is WHY. Matt Daeumer 4929 Archway Drive La Porte, Tx 281-867-4447