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SALEM -- The parks commission will review non-bargaining employee salaries in an upcoming special meeting.
The parks commission will be meeting at 11 a.m. Wednesday to discuss potential cost of living raises and wage differentials for non-bargaining department employees.
During the most recent commission meeting, Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey asked if the department would be giving raises to its remaining non-bargaining employees. She said that if the department would be giving raises, the commissioners would need to decide soon how much they would so it could be included in the upcoming city budget and update to the city's wage ordinance.
The parks commissioners previously adjusted the pay scale for the department's receptionist position from $11 to $14 per hour to $12 to $16 per hour in their July 22 meeting and increased the base wage for the department's laborer position by 4.5%, and to increase the mechanic position's wage by 6% retroactive to July 1 in an Aug. 5 special meeting. However, the commissioners did not adjust the salaries of the department's other non-bargaining employees, which include Parks Director Kelli Pastore, Parks Foreman Wes Bryan and Recreation Supervisor Rocco Crawford.
The commissioners said they would like to maintain the existing wage differentials between the department's supervisory positions but needed to ensure that the department could afford to do so sustainably.
Pastore suggested that if the commissioners did opt to maintain the differentials, they could be implemented as a set percentage higher than the highest paid employee they supervise rather than a specified wage. She explained that doing so would mean that supervisor rates would increase automatically as the employees they manage received pay increases without requiring a separate change.
The commissioners requested Pastore to work with City Auditor Sal Salvino to review the department's anticipated expenses and budget for further discussion in at the special meeting.
The parks commission will meet next at 11 a.m. Wednesday for a special meeting and will meet at 8 a.m. on Oct. 26 for its next regular meeting.