The Union County Commission faced several agenda items concerning pay issues at its November meeting. The first item to be resolved involved confusion regarding a motion in the minutes of the October 24 meeting to distribute bonus pay to essential workers with funds from the Capital Projects Budget. The commission was unaware of a law that passed in 2016 that reduced the majority vote requirement if a member had a statutory conflict.
When Eddie Simpson, a county deputy, abstained, the number needed to pass the motion was reduced from 9 to 8. This reduction caused Ashley Mike's later motion to pay all employees $1,000 to become a mute motion. Mike Boles’ motion to pay 55 full time employees of the sheriff, the jail and EMS $3500 and the remainder of the county employees $1,000 had actually passed 8 For, 7 Against, and 1 Abstain. So the Mayor contacted Kaley Walker, the CTAS representative and attorney by Zoom to provide guidance to correct the situation.
Finally, the issue of bonus pay was resolved on a motion by Sidney Jessee Jr. to amend Motion #3 in the October minutes to include all 911 full time workers, the library workers, and to exclude part time employees, elected officials, appointed officials and school employees. Angela Connor-Murphy seconded the motion which passed with 9 voting For, and 4 voting Against with three commissioners absent. The bonus will be paid on December 7. The 55 full time employees of the sheriff, jail and EMS plus the full time 911 employees will be paid $3500. All other full time employees except for those excluded will receive $1,000.
Another item concerning pay was also addressed in the October meeting but was revisited in November. Commission had voted to transfer $29,500 to be added to the salary of the Youth Services Officer who was performing that job as well as the administrative assistant job for the sessions judge.
Many commissioners voiced that the increase in pay should be discussed by the Budget Committee prior to being considered by the full commission. So the increase in pay was added to the November meeting of the Budget Committee for discussion and resulted in a recommendation that the salary be $55,000 with the remainder of the money to be used for part time personnel or reallocated by the judge.
Apparently from the discussion, several commissioners believed the pay increase was too large so they approved a motion by Larry Lay to accept the Budget Committee recommendation. Kenny Moore seconded the motion which passed 11 to 2. A motion by Dawn Flatford with a second by Mike Boles made the pay retroactive to October 1, 2022.
The final item regarding employee pay was also carried over from the October meeting. Sheriff Billy Breeding requested that employees of his department be placed on the new salary scale to better reflect their length of service.
The sheriff proposed that employees with less than five years would remain at step 1. Others would be placed as follows: five to nine years experience would be step 2, 10 to 14 years at Step 4, 15 to 19 years at step 6, and 20 or more years at step 8.
The total cost would be nearly $43,000 and would be funded out of the fund balance for this budget. Some commissioners noted that this action would result in an increase of approximately one cent on the tax rate. Sidney Jessee’s motion to pay the scale as recommended by the sheriff effective immediately received a second by Bill Cox and passed 9 to 4.
Commission also approved for the sheriff to apply for two grants that would provide training, equipment and overtime pay in the investigation of violent crimes.
In addition, the commission gave Mayor Bailey the authority to apply for a Food Insecurity Grant for food pantries that hold a 501c3 certification and an ARC Grant to complete Heritage Park.
Commission accepted a new state regulation that allows Union County to increase the minimum amount that must be bid from $25,000 to $50,000. Union County was eligible for this change because the finance department has a full time purchasing agent.
Commission praised Director Missy Brown and the Union County Finance Department for their outstanding performance that resulted in no findings for the 101 budget by the auditors.
Union County Finance is now the preferred state training site for new state auditors. Mayor Bailey also commended Bill Collins and Kermie Holloway for their dedication and service.
There are no county meetings in December so the next Union County Commission meeting will be on January 23.