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. . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - JANUARY 4,1999 4 Councilmember Larson asked Mr. Fritsinger to explain the City's pay equity system. Mr. Fritsinger explained that the State of Minnesota requires each of the jurisdictions which it oversees to have a pay plan which ensures that all Staff, regardless of their gender, be paid on an equal basis. In the late 1980's the City of Arden Hills evaluated each position and attributed a certain number of points based upon the responsibilities of each position within the City Staff. This point system resulted in the step-plan as presented in the agenda packet. Mr. Fritsinger explained that, approximately five years ago, the City, along with Personnel Decisions, Inc., reevaluated the point structure. This involved creating a time-spent profile which evaluated how much time an employee spends performing certain tasks. Under this system is a scoring method for the types of work performed by the employees which equates back to a number of points. Typically under this program, the more supervisory and management responsibilities a position has, the higher the point total would be. Mayor Probst asked if the City is required by law to be in compliance with State's requirements. Mr. F ritsinger indicated that this is correct. He noted that the City last submitted compliance to the State of Minnesota in 1997 and the next report will be due in the year 2000. Councilmember Larson requested confirmation that the points are proportional to the salaries. Mr. Fritsinger stated that to some extent this is the case. He indicated that there is a regression analysis for the Pay Plan which shows how the pay relates to the points. If comparing the City Receptionist position versus the City Manager position, it would not be a dollar-for-dollar comparison based on points. Councilmember Larson asked if the intent is for there to be a direct relationship between the pay equity points and the salary. Mr. Fritsinger stated that it is not a direct, dollar-tor-dollar point system. Councilmember Larson asked if this is what the City is to be striving for. Mr. Fritsinger stated that what the City is striving for is to ensure the gender issue is balanced in relation to the pay, based on a level of responsibility for each position. Councilmember Malone commented that the original plan was for the points to be independent functions of the job. There had been a situation where the outside Public Works employees were being paid more than the equivalent inside jobs which were female dominated. Councilmember Malone stated a great deal of work had been put into obtaining a perfect correlation between the job responsibilities and points. However, when the State of Minnesota's pay equity program was added, the City's Pay Plan was not in compliance. The State has a system which does more than relate pay to the position, it also considers gender in the position. Therefore, if there is an area which tends to be male dominated, it will not be in compliance, even if the pay is exactly in line. Mr. Fritsinger noted that the last time the City was out of compliance was when there had been a Community Services Officer (CSO) position, the lowest paying job in the City, filled by a male. When this position was eliminated, it caused the City to be out of compliance. Because the City of Arden Hills Pay Plan is so compressed, any change within the organization causes a shift in compliance. When the Parks and Recreation Director position was added back into the program model, at first it caused the program to be out of compliance because the salary had not been adjusted.