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FBMA eyes personnel
Michael Tribble - Thu, Aug, 4, 2005
The Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting featured a debate that could affect not only town staff members but also all tax-paying Farragut residents.
For two weeks, the Board has toiled over the idea of bringing in a professional consulting firm to perform various personnel services for the town of Farragut. The proposed services the firm would perform include a market survey of wages and salaries, drafting new job descriptions and design of a new performance appraisal system.
“Our job descriptions are just outdated,” Town Personnel Committee Chair Ron Honken said at the Thursday, July 28, meeting.
“There is nothing as personal as an individual’s salary,” he added. “We just need to make sure, at the end of the day, our employees know what they are doing well and what they need to improve on.”
PTG Organizational Solutions is the firm proposed to the Board. PTG, out of Oak Ridge, has worked with both local governments as well as private businesses on matters of administration consultation. Past government clients of PTG include the City of Oak Ridge, Knox County and Roane County governments.
PTG President and CEO, L.O. (Lou) Rabinowitz, was present at the Board’s debate to propose the project that is expected to cost about $28,630.
“This is not a witch hunt,” Rabinowitz said. “If you want to compete in the market with the best and the brightest, you have to be competitive in your pay raise.”
Rabinowitz made certain that the Board and gallery were aware PTG would make suggestions to, and not final decisions for the Board.
Rabinowitz said, “We will make recommendations, but ultimately [FBMA] will have to approve any recommendations we make.”
The Board voted 3-1 in favor of hiring PTG. Alderman Dorothy LaMarche was absent from the July 28 meeting.
Alderman Tom Rosseel was the dissenting vote, saying he was not ready to spend the money on a project that he feels has not been fully explored.
“We have an outstanding and dedicated staff that have helped us become, as the Mayor [W. Edward Ford III] has proudly and appropriately stated, ‘the premier residential community’ in Tennessee,” Rosseel said. “Staff turnover is low. We need to be cognizant of the impact of this process and potential changes on their morale and ability to proudly perform their jobs.”
Rosseel had a list of questions for both the Board and Rabinowitz. One particular question led to the suggestion of an alternative plan. Rosseel wanted to know why the town could not merely hire the University of Tennessee Municipal Advisory Service, which would provide a salary survey at no charge.
Honken’s rebuttal was that UT-MTAS does not take into account the town of Farragut’s situation in that some town positions are, as Honken said, “hybrid.”
In other FBMA business, the Board voted:
• unanimously to approve change orders for Campbell Station Park improvements which included filling an excavated cavern near the Campbell Station Park walking trail.
• unanimously to approve funding for supplemental funds for already completed engineering services for Smith Road Sidewalk project.
• unanimously to approve a request for residential driveway to 12415 Union Road onto Union Road as a variance from the Farragut Municipal Code on distance between driveways.
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