LSBGHORZ

AGENDA MEMORANDUM

MEETING DATE: November 22, 2010

FROM: Jay M. Evans, City Manager

SUBJECT: Electric Department Recruitment and Retention Strategy

Staff Recommendation:

Staff recommends approval of the Electric Department Recruitment and Retention Strategy outlined below.

Analysis:

As discussed in City Commission Budget Workshops, the Electric Department is experiencing a crisis in recruitment and retention. In the last two years, the department has lost four employees to SECO, one to Progress Energy, and one to the City of Ocala. Four of the five were highly-skilled positions, requiring years of training to obtain certification and proficiency. One of the positions, Operations Manager, remains unfilled after nearly two years due to a shortage of qualified applicants. The department is now at risk of losing the three (3) most recent graduates of the City’s Apprentice Lineman Program.

Within the Lineman career path are the positions of Groundsman, Apprentice Lineman, Journeyman Lineman, and Electric Line Crew Leader. Lineman positions require four (4) years of apprenticeship training, which costs the City $20,000 for 2,235 hours of classroom instruction and $39,559 in wages during those hours. The City’s investment in a new journeyman lineman is easily $60,000, not including field training expenses.

The City has struggled unsuccessfully to stem the loss of valuable talent (much of it home-grown) to better-paying utilities. Some of this is due to poor wage rates versus the market, and some is due to the comparatively slow rate at which an average employee progresses through the Leesburg pay scale. For example, a SECO Lineman makes $32.35/hr after 2 years of service, and a Leesburg Lineman makes $22.73 (assuming a 3% raise for each of the first two years). This inequity has led to Leesburg becoming a training ground for future SECO linemen.

Other positions are also grossly underpaid versus the market. For example, after screening job descriptions to ensure good comparisons, the entry level salary for a Substation Communications Technician is $15.09/hr, while Ocala, Lakeland, Gainesville, and Ft. Pierce pay their employees $18.93, $22.11, $22.80, and $24.96 respectively. Meter Technicians in Leesburg start at $15.09/hr, whereas Lakeland, Kissimmee, and Gainesville pay $18.64, $22.26, and $17.60. And even though Leesburg Electric is fast becoming an industry leader among municipal providers, our own Director’s salary is at least $20,000 under the market.

These are all examples of why Leesburg Electric is losing talent to other utilities. This is happening at a time when the good employees who serve us have delivered drastically reduced prices to our customers, obtained $12M in grants for Smart Grid infrastructure, created $1.5M in savings due to new demand response initiatives, and garnered national media attention for Leesburg’s innovative programs. It is clear that the utility’s ratepayers are being well-served by our employees, but are our employees being compensated fairly?

To combat this loss, and to improve market competitiveness, two actions are proposed. The first is to implement the Enterprise Performance Incentive Program (discussed under separate cover). The second is to make market adjustments to current pay grades, which are proposed as follows:

Position Current Paygrade Proposed Paygrade

Director 142 147

Superintendent 137 139

Operations Mgr. 137 139

Elec. Sys. Dispatch Super. 131 135

Elec. Sr. Systems Operator 129 133

Elec. Systems Operator 127 131

Substation Comm. Tech. II 129 134

Substation Comm. Tech. I 122 127

Electric Service Planner 129 131

Electric Line Crew Leader 133 L4

Contract Supervisor 133 L4

Service Technician 132 L3

Electric Lineman 131 L2

Electric Lineman Apprentice (existing percentage of Lineman salary)

Groundsman 114 L1

Meter Technician 122 127

Meter Supervisor 133 129 (downgrade from 133)

Electric Technician II 120 122

Electric Technician I 118 120

New paygrades L1 through L4 (“L” is for the Lineman career path) are proposed to be created due to market comparisons. Market comparisons indicate an increase is needed in the minimum salary, but the maximums of the City’s existing paygrades would be too high.

Grade Min. Max. Annual Min. Annual Max.

L4 $34.01 $37.16 $70,740 $77,292

L3 $26.05 $35.88 $54,184 $74,464

L2 $25.05 $34.61 $52,104 $71,988

L1 $11.97 $17.57 $24,897 $36,545

The effective date of the proposed changes is October 1, 2010. It is expected that the above proposed changes would mitigate the current disparity between Leesburg and market salaries, and would provide further incentive for existing employees to remain with the City of Leesburg.

Options:

1. Approve the proposed pay plan as presented; or

2. Other such action as the Commission may deem appropriate.

Fiscal Impact:

The most conservative estimate (highest possible amount )of financial impact is $232,839. By comparison, the contribution to unrestricted cash for FY 2010-2011 is expected to be $2,030,049. This change would be processed in the next budget amendment, the effective date would be October 1, 2010.

Submission Date and Time: 11/23/10 8:58 AM____

Department: Administration

Prepared by: Jay M. Evans, City Manager

Attachments: Yes__X__ No ______

Advertised: __ ___Not Required _X____

Dates: ____________________________

Newspapers:_______________________

Reviewed by: ________

Finance Dept. __________________

Deputy C.M. ___________________

Submitted by:

City Manager ___________________

Account : _____________________

No. Project No. _______________

WF No.

Budget : ______________________

Available _____________________

RESOLUTION NO._______________

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LEESBURG, FLORIDA, ADOPTING THE ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION STRAGEGY; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LEESBURG, FLORIDA:

1. THAT the City hereby adopts the Electric Department Recruitment Strategy as outlined in the attached memorandum, inclusive of the following pay grade changes: