News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Sparta will move forward on a wage study that will be conducted by city staff.
Mayor Jeff Young proposed the item Thursday night to answer high turnover rates. Following Board of Aldermen approval, Young shared a message to department heads.
“Be sure to pass along to your employees that we are looking at that,” Young said. “If we have someone that is sitting on the fence considering one of these jobs at Walmart, we want them to know that we are taking a real hard look at that.”
City Administrator Brad Hennessee said the study would use a combination of state data and phone calls to neighboring cities. Hennessee said results should be ready to share next month.
“Some of the Tennessee Municipal League (TML) data, most cities respond to TML data, but they don’t all,” Hennessee said. “Some inside this area are fairly inconsistent, so if they are not on there, we feel like the local market is most important, so if they are not on there, we will call them directly.”
The Board of Aldermen also approved paid time off for an employee’s birthday. Young proposed this item in combination with the wage study. City Recorder Tonya Tindle said it would be retroactive.
“Anybody that had their birthday before now, then we would let them have that off,” Tindle said. “If your birthday was say on Wednesday and you want it on Monday or Friday, we can do it that way. If you didn’t want to take your day off, and you want to get paid that extra day. It wouldn’t be overtime. It would just be straight pay.
Aldermen Brent Young asked about the benefits of an internal study versus outsourcing. Hennessee said sometimes it is hard to compare benefits if a city uses a private provider. Hennessee said that’s when existing relationships with other cities comes into play.
“Sometimes people are forth coming in information, sometimes they are not,” Hennessee said. “Any discrepancies would be noted in the findings or recommendations made.”
