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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 9, 2013 Page 12 Mr. Miller noted that not every position is vital and not every person in those po- sitions is a stellar employee. Mr. Miller advised that he had used the merit award system four times over the last seven years; and had done so for employees con- sistently working during their vacations, holidays or weekends. If unable to acknowledge that type of additional work ethic and commitment, Mr. Miller ad- vised that it was difficult to attract or retain those exceptional, committed em- ployees; and spoke in support of this program as a valuable tool for those differ- ence-makers. City Planner Thomas Paschke spoke in support of those comments expressed to- night, and the summary provided by Interim City Manager Trudgeon. Form a Community Development Department perspective, Mr. Paschke advised that use of the program had been used sparingly to-date, but for projects championed by employees that took an exorbitant amount of time (e.g. zoning ordinance update and comprehensive plan update); and provided those employees showing hard de- termination and effort, an award for doing so. Mr. Paschke opined that it was im- perative to have some type of merit or award system in place for"A"players. Council Discussion Councilmember McGehee expressed her personal support of a merit pay system; and referenced her appreciation for a Public Works employee coming before the City Council in the recent past as a candidate to service on a citizen advisory commission. Councilmember McGehee recognized such efforts as above and be- yond, and used that as an example of excellent employees tapped for such a pro- gram as this. Councilmember Willmus expressed appreciation in looking at the merit award program separate from what was being done for employee wages or COLA. However, Councilmember Willmus noted that ultimately the $30,000 request came from the same place, and that was his perspective in making a decision. Councilmember Laliberte thanked Department Heads for sharing how the pro- gram had been used in the past. However, unless she misunderstood previous comments from Department Heads, Councilmember Laliberte recalled that she was led to believe that the past merit pay program was not being used, and people did not believe in it. While appreciating the perspective of past use, Coun- cilmember Laliberte stated that she was only in favor of a merit award system if it was a one-time consideration for 2014, and not budgeted annually as an ongoing commitment, making that scenario more problematic for her to consider. Councilmember Etten advised that he had personally spoken with several De- partment Heads last week, as he was on the fence at that time, having recalled similar comments as those mentioned by Councilmember Laliberte, including hearing a lot of confusion about the program, lack of use, and lack of understand- ing on how or when to use the program. Councilmember Etten expressed appre-