“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Where Do You Stand on Pay Increases as Requested for Select City Employees

This is a requested topic that does need to be discussed.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

My topic heading is MERIT WAGES VERSUS VALUE PROVIDED by Peru city employees During FINANCIAL SHORTFALLS:

Recently on two occasions the finance committee members discussed "Merit Increase" for 2 specific employees; ONLY 2 EMPLOYEES! , not all employees.
To justify a merit raise request, documentation was submitted to support FOR 1 OF such a request. Again STRANGE.
This action by the Dept Hd presents wonderment of "what exactly an employee has to do to RATE a merit raise?" I thought that all employees just got raises in May ?

Outside of the 2 employees nominated for a merit raise, I BET NONE OF THE OTHER EMPLOYEES know what is expected to deserve a merit raise or are aware how these 2 employees deserve such a raise as MERIT in these times of financial restraint.
The action for a selected 2 is NOT A MORALE BUILDER BUT A DOWNER. Is this management leadership building a respectful team ?
I would say NO! What this shows is FAVORITISM.

I guess when a few years ago in the previous administration these favorite 2 employees were only part time NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY HAVE A FULL TIME JOB WITH ALL OF THE BENEFITS,"CREATED", they should get a merit raise . Come on, now.
The vague duties for each of these converted part time jobs to full time has one to wonder because I believe there is not enough work even today to fill a full 8 hrs @ 5 days a week. Now we need a merit increase ? What ?

The management direction assigning work needs to be investigated. It is our tax dollars funding "BUSY WORK"

To All: Remember all employees were asked to give up their raises last year so to help the city conserve dollars and help the city to recover. Now the city is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel and provides for a modest wage increase , everyone treated the same should be satisfied. BUT WAIT A MINUTE WE HAVE 2 EMPLOYEES BEING TREATED DIFFERENTLY and are being considered to receive a 2nd raise! What have they done so special that deserves our tax dollars to go for something called MERIT, again I ask ?
Most all of the city employees have worked a long time for the city and as they gain experience with senority, they are given salary increases, why not THESE 2 SELECT EMPLOYEES? With time if they progress satisfactorily, they too would get salary increases but not till then.
During this time of unemployment and economic conditions of the city and the nation, I would think that ALL employees including these select 2 employees would be very HAPPY JUST TO HAVE A JOB.
I would hope that the city clerk , having a business of his own, knows and can relate to the issues presented. Hopefully better judgement will prevail by the city clek to recind any MERIT INCREASE action. This is no way to build a solid team. This action too
select employees outside of the norm is destructive and is a strong waste of our tax dollars.
8:07 PM, June 18, 2011

Anonymous said...

I think there is another employee to add to this list. This employee is asking to be increased to full time with a raise, paid vacations and holidays, etc.

Anonymous said...

The reason for the city clerk showing "favortism" to select employees is the following; the city clerk "DOES NOT KNOW THE DETAILS OF HIS JOB" therefore he must award a select 2 employees with additional merit increase to keep them happy.

This just goes to show you the incompetence of the city clerk and we should consider this action for the next election and get him replaced with a qualified person to run our city finances.

Anonymous said...

I"m not sure if both employees who have been selected for a raise are under the city clerk's domain. Does anyone know for sure.

Peru Town Forum said...

only one

Anonymous said...

Please be a little kinder when assuming the new hire (clerk) is not capable of doing his/her job. It's probably not that easy to come into a position where business (or lack thereof) has been done a certain way for so many years and change is not welcome by some of the old school staff. Remember, times are tough today. Jobs, especially good paying jobs, are hard to come by. Cutback are always possible in any job environment today. It's best to work together and accept the fact that nothing stays the same, including employment status.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you 1:36 and I cannot say whether the city clerk is doing his job or not but I do have to remind you that he is not a new hire. He's been in the position over 2 years. Also, if he is only asking for a raise for l employee who is the other employee working under?

Peru Town Forum said...

for the Mayor

Anonymous said...

2 years to learn a job is a long time dont you think? if he wasnt elected and was at another employment i would hope he would be fired-or at least on probation????? he shouldn't have run if he couldn't handle the work

Anonymous said...

sweet little deal for some huh? i think the employees deserve a raise-all of them, trust me they couldnt have saved that much in one year with no raise last year arent there less than 90 employees? 3-4% wouldnt be hundreds of thousand dollars.

Anonymous said...

To those trying to feel sorry for the city clerk (Bartley), lets all remember he was the city treasurer before being elected to the city clerk position. He was suppose to be in a position to oversee and support or reject our cities expenditures .
In other words he was ABOVE THE CITY CLERK as treasurer.
Therefore, there is NO EXCUSE FOR PLEADING IGNORANCE TODAY and not knowing the details of running a city clerks office and to show favoritism to select employees to give Merit Raises.
If he does not understand the details, HE SHOULD LEARN OR RESIGN, PERIOD. We do not want to pay extra for his lack of understanding.

Maybe if he would spend more time in the office, he could pay attention to the details of the job he was elected to perform. (check out his hours of daily work, how much vacation is taken etc)
If he(city clerk) got paid by the hour we could save some money.
Lets look into changing the wage arrangement from being paid on salary to being paid by the hour ( only the time he is in the office) as a cost saving arrangement during the next finance committee meeting?

Anonymous said...

Keep in mind that the clerk attends many meetings out of the normal 9-5 environment. I assume after reading some of the comments, that some of the writers are pretty intimate with his daily schedule. Do you remember the prior clerk's schedule? Couldn't be found before 10 or after 2. Did that anger you too? Did you report her? Obviously not, but the citizens sure did based on the results of last election!

Anonymous said...

If we really dug into the process at the clerk's/treasurers office prior to the new administration, I would almost have to bet that the treasurer was not allowed to adequately do his job per ordinance. I believe that everything was handled between the old Mayor and his clerk gal. I don't think there was ever a true separation of duties, but I hope a strong one is in place going forward.

Anonymous said...

We should not be interested in History or previous administration Dept Hds because we CANNOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT HAS PAST. But we surely CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE PRESENT.

What are we going to do about todays poor city clerk performance ? Talk is cheap, lets take action and bring up the issue to the city council and the finance committee to adjust the pay structure from salary to hourly, we can save a ton of money. After all we need to save money, right ?
Today the city clerk does more work for his restuarant on city time then performing the cities duties. Is that OK with all?

Anonymous said...

People you are over two years two months into this administration. If the previous administration was so bad and one of that administration is now part of the present administration and he has proof of illegalities he should expose them or he becomes part of them, as all present members of the current administration would be.
I, as many others do not care to hear of past grievances but I do care to hear of present ideas for the future of Peru. If I was to reach back into history it would be for only two years two months and the promise of change.

Anonymous said...

Well put ANON 9:52.

Anonymous said...

i agree with anon 9:52 always and excuse the old adminstration-i dont buy it, i long for the old administration and i know i am not alone.