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DRAFT Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 21, 2013 Page 25 tween the first and second half of 2012 about another 1%. Mayor Roe reiterated that all that had been accomplished in October of 2013 was to "catch-up" to that point beyond 2012; and now under the new policy, the City was looking forward at what percentage to move toward based on that and the CPI, using that policy for 2014, and staff's recommendation for a 2% COLA. Councilmember Etten stated that Mayor Roe's perspective as stated was also his understanding; and questioned the accuracy of Councilmember Laliberte's com- ments that a 1% and 2% COLA had been approved in the last two calendar years. Councilmember Etten noted that the Compensation Study went back ten years to the last study, and addressed any "catch-up" and this assumption was based on fresh money for 2014. Finance Director Miler advised that Councilmember Laliberte's comments were accurate, exclusive of the 3.26% one-time adjustment. Mr. Miller concurred that this was a new assumption for 2014 and not applicable to the "catch-up" action recently taken. Interim City Manager Trudgeon clarified that staff did not keep bringing this issue back, but their action was simply based on the City Council discussions direction given to staff to-date. Mr. Trudgeon noted that the policy adopted was to be used for future years in determining COLA as part of the budget process. Mr. Trudg- eon stated that, if the City Council had said "no COLA" with Preliminary Budget adoption on September 9, 2013, it would have the end of the discussion. Howev- er, Mr. Trudgeon advised that staff was simply following City Council direction. With adjustments made to-date, Mr. Trudgeon opined that that was a market ad- justment, not COLA based on the Compensation Study indicating that the City was 4.6% below average of peer communities; and after considerable discussion, approving a 3.26% "catch-up" allotment to bring the City within the 90th percen- tile of that average to correct that past allotment. As Interim City Manager, Mr. Trudgeon advised that it was up to him not to grant employee raises just to be nice, but to look out for the overall health of the organ- ization in recruiting, retaining and succession planning of its employee resource. While not at the top of cities and their pay structures, Mr. Trudgeon noted that the adjustment now brought the City within competition range; and his charge was to keep the City competitive, thus the previous discussions and recommendations for the 2% COLA to avoid the City and its employees from falling behind again. Mr. Trudgeon advised that another aspect of his consideration as Interim City Manager was in making sure that the City continued to adhere to the State's Pay Equity regulations ensuring equitable pay for genders and represented and non- represented employees. When an organization was faced with many male-