By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Williston City Council President Debra Jones this week recommended giving first-year City Manager Jackie Gorman a 4 percent pay raise but was questioned at length by one councilwoman about how she arrived at that number.

            Councilwoman Darfeness Hinds, who graded Gorman on her job performance as meeting job standards, wanted more discussion on the raise before a decision was made and asked for Gorman’s current salary and how much it would increase with a 4 percent pay hike.

            Jones said she didn’t know Gorman’s salary but she would bring it back to the next council meeting along with the financial impact of the raise. She said she believes the raise would cost taxpayers $2,800. The recommendation for a 4 percent raise was tabled until the next council meeting.

            When Gorman was hired, the council gave her an annual starting salary of $77,500. Her overall job performance score from the five council members who evaluated her this month was 4 when averaged together, which is how Jones said she arrived at the recommendation for a 4 percent raise.

            Hinds scored Gorman with a lot of 3’s on her evaluation, meaning the city manager consistently met the standards of the board for her position as city manager, but the remaining members of the board scored Gorman higher saying she exceeded expectations of the job. Although the board cumulative score for Gorman was 4, Hinds wanted to know what would happen if the board decided to give her a 3 instead. Would that mean a 3 percent raise for Gorman?

            “It’s not automatic. We’re all here and this body makes the final determination and it has to be done by resolution,” Jones responded.

            “So, based on what you’re saying, if she exceeds (expectations) and she gets a 4, she automatically gets 4 percent?” Hinds said.

            “If her score had been 4.5, I would have been recommending a 4.5 percent raise because that’s what the body (the council) said what her score was,” Jones said. “If this body thought her score was enough to get 4.5, I would have recommended 4.5. Somebody may say 6 percent, but there’s nothing that says that’s what it has to be. That’s just my individual recommendation to this body to get the discussion started. If you want it to be something else, tell me how you want to do it.”

            Jones said the cumulative average of Gorman’s evaluations was 4 but the council can decide to give her more than that or less depending on how the board members feel about the raise.

            Hinds asked if there was any way to look at the city manager’s score as a range when looking at her job performance. If her proficiency indicated a 3 percent raise, Hinds said the board could then discuss the number.

            “That’s what I’m here doing,” Jones responded.

            “In my mind, that’s what we’re going to do because that’s the way I’ve always done it. I don’t know if that’s what you all would do,” Jones said.

            “I’m not trying to argue. I’m just saying we’re asking about having a discussion, we need to have a discussion,” Hinds said.

            Jones asked what Hinds wanted to do if it was different than the process they were using. Hinds said she wanted to know what the percentage is and if Jones would send the information to her.

            Jones said she couldn’t send her anything.

            Hinds said she wanted to know Gorman’s base salary. Hinds said if she decided to do something different, such as recommending a 5 or a 3, then she would take a look at the city charter.

            “Then we can have that discussion. I think that’s how the discussion should happen,” Hind said.

            “I don’t have a problem with that. You want the numbers? Miss Nelson?” Jones said, calling out to Human Resources Director Deanna Nelson.

            Nelson said based on past history, the process being advocated by Jones had been used in the past to determine raises for the city manager. She said previous evaluations of the city manager were based off a percentage of the cumulative score of the council members.

            “For someone who is coming in new and does not know that consistent pattern, asking the question is how we determine how to move forward,” Hinds responded.

            Resident Albert Fuller said the question is how the city determines pay raises for other staff members.

            “In all honesty, I do not know that. I don’t do them. You’d have to ask the HR director or the department heads,” Jones responded.

 Nelson said she had also looked at how pay raises had been given to staff members in the past.

            “For staff, from what I’ve seen of the process, it’s just been based on the budget – what is in the budget for the staff,” Nelson said. “We are trying to move toward more of a merit type increase and not strictly budget.”

            Nelson said the city is transitioning to a merit type of raise for rank-and-file employees rather than giving them all the same raise based on what’s available in the city budget.

            “I would ask you at this time to consider a 4 percent increase for Miss Gorman and that’s just my recommendation for you,” Jones said.

“We can discuss it from there.”

            “How much would 4 percent increase her salary?” Hinds said.

            “Mr. (Steven) Bloom gave me those numbers. If you need those numbers, I can bring them back. If I recall, the number is $2,800 but I don’t remember the total,” Jones said. “We will table this and I will bring back her current salary and what it would be with the raise.”

            Bloom is the financial director for the city. Hinds is the newest member of the city council.

            Neither Gorman nor Nelson explained precisely how merit raises would work but often merit raises involve supervisors evaluating their employees and making recommendations for raises based on job performance.

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City of Williston Regular Meeting January 18, 2022; Posted January 21, 2022