Roanoke Rapids administrative staff is continuing to prepare an analysis of positions, grade and pay as well as looking at its personnel policy.

The aim, City Manager Kelly Traynham told council at a work session Tuesday, is to identify opportunities to make the city’s benefits package more attractive as a way to encourage longevity.

What came out of discussions during the meeting is there is “not much of a step (system) in place,” the city manager said, nor has there been an active merit system in place.

Traynham said the city and its human resources department are looking into a comparative analysis to see what other communities are doing in the way of incentives and increasing pay to “help get people off the bottom line.”

The police department has submitted a professional development plan. “We will be taking a look and seeing where there are missed opportunities — not only in this department but across the city.”
Traynham said there are employees who have been with the city for some 13 or 20 years who are still in the bottom part of their salary range. “I think it’s time we really take a closer look at how we evaluate employees and try to become competitive city-wide.”

It is not just for the reason of attracting employees, she said, but to retain them and encourage longevity. “When someone goes to work for the city a lot of resources go into it. A lot of time is spent doing orientations and introductions. If that person doesn’t stay with the city for very long you start all over again. When you have employees that have been with the city for 10,15, 20-plus years they have such a wealth of knowledge that’s impossible to replace.”

Traynham said she believed by the time for the council’s next April meeting there will be more specific information for the panel to consider.

Councilwoman Sandra Bryant said while this was information she had been requesting she would still like to see mid-range salary figures. “If we could get to the point where we could implement cost of living (increases) and felt comfortable with that I think it would be a tremendous improvement. The mid-range salaries are what most should be aiming for.”

Mayor Emery Doughtie said he encourages department heads to evaluate their employees, something which discussion later in the meeting showed doesn’t happen on a consistent basis. “I’m not a big fan of moving people up just because they’ve been on their job five years but because they’re doing a better job and taking on more responsibility.”

Traynham said an item that often gets funding taken away during budget discussions is training opportunities. “For a lot of people that’s where they get their opportunities to grow in their career. We want to ensure our employees are getting opportunities that may help them become the best they can be. When you take care of your staff and employees and help them work towards their career goals (they’re) more than likely going to give back and stay.”

Said the city manager: “I know we have a lot of people here who give it their all every day. They’re up late at night and here early in the morning. They’re not complaining about it. They’re doing it because it’s an act of public service and we work in public service.”

As the city pushes for a comprehensive software upgrade, Human Resources Director Christina Caudle said the software system the city is looking at has an evaluation platform. “It looks like some departments have annual reviews, of course, there’s no merit tied to that. More departments than not don’t have a structured performance evaluation.”

For a department head to have a performance where the good and bad are logged throughout the year will help, she said. “Merit or not, people are here to make money to provide for their families. If they don’t know how they’re performing and whether they're making a difference or not, it’s very easy to get sidetracked and start looking for other positions or doing things outside the scope of your job responsibilities.”

Caudle said whether there is merit or not, “We should implement some type of annual review systems across all departments for all employees. Then we’ll start finding out who our A players are in each department and each position. That will make it easier when we do have merit available.”

Councilman Wayne Smith issued caution during the salary analysis. “I want every employee to make a good living,” he said, “But we’re going to have to be careful about what we do. The city is on a fixed income. The only money we get is taxes. We can give the employees a big raise — I would like to see that. When we do, we’re going to have to take away something from our departments so that’s the thing we’re going to need to think about.”

Councilman Carl Ferebee said the evaluation is an important part of the study. “Every single person should have an ‘eval’ every single year.”

When he worked at the hospital, evaluations were mandatory. “I say it should be mandatory for every department. When things come up in the middle of the year and you haven’t had an ‘eval,’ it makes it tough for an employee if you have to let someone go. They should know where they are all the time. If we’re not doing that we all need to. I believe we are on a fixed budget but at the same time I do believe that we need to make sure that our employees are not way under the bus.”