The Danville City Council has approved the spending of $62,800 for a four month study on city salaries; which unlike a study done in 2016 will cover both union and non-union employees; as well as elected officials. Following Tuesday (May 16th) evening’s council meeting, Danville Comptroller Ashlyn Massey said it’s a matter of keeping up with the times both coming out of COVID, as well as the now even more popular topic of working at home.
AUDIO: Obviously with the pandemic, the marketplace has changed a lot, right? Work from home options are running rampant. So a lot of people are willing to take a pay cut if they can work from home two or three days a week; and then only have to come into the office two or three days a week. So we’re just trying to compete with that. And number two, we want top talent. We want top talent for our people, because that’s why we’re here.
Danville City Engineer Sam Cole says although the City Council approves annual wage increases, a complete overhaul of where the salaries are to begin with is a different ballgame.
AUDIO: While the city annually approves wage increases for people that are existing employees, the city has not updated its wage arranges for hiring range in many years, probably since the last wage study. So that puts us in a position where we’re trying to hire in a marketplace at salaries that are not a fit for today’s marketplace.
Massey says she’s hoping to see the study started by sometime before the end of May, or in June for sure.
In other action Tuesday evening, the Danville City Council:
-Voted to allow B & T Marshall Arts to use funds from Downtown Danville Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District to repair their roof at 35 North Vermilion.
-Approved a 10% increase, about $58,000; for additional engineering design work already being done for repairs on about ten Danville bridges. City Engineer Sam Cole says this will allow documents to have all information on what is needed for complete repairs when the projects go out to bid.
ALSO: A reminder that a public safety open house concerning traffic safety, and responses about concerns expressed in a recent study, is set for 5 to 7 PM, Thursday evening May 18th, in the lobby of the new Carle at the Riverfront building. City Engineer Sam Cole says this is a “come and go when you like” open house, where you can look at displays and ask questions.
