MINUTES COUNCIL FINANCE, HUMAN RESOURCES and CITIZEN APPOINTMENT COMMITTEE Monday, March 24, 2025 - 11:00 AM City Hall Council Chambers Members Present: Lauren Wise, Chair, Council Member Gary Daniel, Vice-Chair, Council Member Susan Miller, Citizen Member Staff Present: Wilson Hooper Dean Luebbe, Finance Director Kelley Craig, Human Resources Director Becky McCann, Communications Coordinator Tom Jordan, Chief of Police Denise Hodsdon, Town Clerk Guests: Harvey Sankey A. Welcome & Call to Order Committee Chair Lauren Wise welcomed everyone and called the meeting to orderat 11:00am. B. Certification of Quorum Quorum was certified by Town Clerk Denise Hodsdon C. Approval of Agenda Motion by Ms. Miller, seconded by Mr. Daniel, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried unanimously. D. Approval of Minutes Motion by Mr. Daniel and second by Ms. Miller to approve the minutes of the February 24, 2025 meeting as presented. The motion carried unanimously. E. Review of Non-Profit Application Submissions Mr. Wilson introduced the agenda item and gave a briefb background form last meeting on this topic. Committee members had discussion regarding next steps, with the non- profits to be reviewed and potentially approved by city council. Mr. Luebbe noted that Sharing House, Heart of Brevard, and the farmers market will likely be budgeted in the city's contracted services budgets. The committee agreed that they had no further recommendations regarding the non-profits as discussed at the February meeting. Mr. Daniel made the motion to recommend that city council provide non-profit funding to non-profits as it had discussed at the February meeting. Ms. Miller seconded the motion. All voted in favor. F. Medical Insurance Mr. Hooper introduced the medical insurance topic noting the city budgets approximately $15,000 annually per employee to fund medical insurance. He noted that this covers approximately 100 employees and almost that amount in employee dependents. He shared that the city's broker stated that this insurance was estimated to increase by approximately $300,000 using the city's traditional plan. Mr. Hooper noted that the city has had many expensive claims within the last year. He felt that it would be prudent to consider another option which was offered by the city's broker. In this new approach, the city' insurance would be pooled with approximately 50 other entities and make the new policy seem "invisible," meaning that the potential change would not have a negative impact on city employees. Mr. Wise asked about the financial impact with going with the new method. Mr. Wilson shared that the city's broker estimated that it would be an additional $97,000 versus the traditional approach. Ms. Craig recommended that the city increase the employees' family/dependent premiums incrementally since employees had not seen any increase in approximately 5 years. Mr. Wise shared that he was in favor of going with the alternative insurance versus the traditional approach and that he was in favor of a slight increase in employee amily/dependent pay. Committee members continued sharing their input with staff answering questions. G. Police Department Compensation Mr. Hooper introduced the agenda item and asked Ms. Craig to continue the presentation. Ms. Craig shared information about the city's ability to attract and retain employees within the Brevard Police Department. She noted that the city is currently under the average for police officer starting pay of $47,000. Pay for police officers varies drastically across the street. Ms. Craig shared information with the committee regarding compensation via salaries and wages, as well as incentives. She recommended that the police department be removed from the city's current pay and classification structure and that the city become aggressive with police pay and move the minimum for a police officer to $52,000 annually in hourly wages. She also included increasing pay based on rank, division worked, etc. Ms. Craig stated that she would like to make these pay adjustments during the current fiscal year and apply the cost of living to the new pay plan. She noted that the city should also consider adding one-time incentive bonuses and stated that she will continue to look into sign-on bonuses and referral bonuses. Minutes--Finance & Human Resources Committee Meeting- = March 24, 2025 Page 2 of3 Mr. Daniel posed questions to which Ms. Craig responded directly or said she would bring back a response to some of the questions being posed. Ms. Miller asked how using a separate pay plan for police would impact the fire department employees. Mr. Jordan spoke up and shared that it has become harder to attract lateral candidates without using city incentives such as those proposed. Ms. Craig also noted that she did not see any issues for pay compression should the city implement the plans being proposed. The committee and staff had additional discussion before indicated that they were in agreement with the city considering this new approach to funding higher pay and better incentives for the city's police department. Ms. Miller asserted that the city should look find ways to also reward other city staff, not just those in police. Mr. Wise agreed and shared that he felt that the city needs to ensure that all employees are receiving appropriate pay raises, and incentives. H. Public Comment Mr. Sankey commended Ms. Craig for her presentation regarding health insurance. He also agreed that the city should pay police department employees well. He asked if there would be a net increase to the budget for police department employees and Ms. Craig responded that freezing two detective positions would offset the cost for the police salaries and wages. He also asked about exit interviews and employee turnover, to which Ms. Craig responded. He asked Mr. Jordan about the city's crime rate, to which he responded. He also had questions regarding current vacancies, etc. I. Set Date for Next Meeting The next meeting oft the Committee was scheduled for April 28, 2025 at 11:00am. J. Adjourn There being no further business, Mr. Daniel made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Ms. Miller, and all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 11:59am. Minutes Approved: ApiLas X Lauren Wise, Chair, Council Member or Gary Daniel, Vice Chair, Council Member X lina-h Selena D. Coffey Assistant to the City Manager Minutes- --Finance & Human Resources Committee Meeting - March 24, 2025 Page 3 of 3