The Chestertown Town Council agreed this week to award the Compensation Study bid to D.C.-based Hendricks and Associates at $15,000.00.
Third ward council member Mabel Mumford-Pautz was the only member to express a dissenting opinion that the award be granted for the study. Her objections to the study, which will be conducted to assess appropriate pay rates for town employees, were based on budgetary concerns.
“We never seem to have enough money to do anything,” said Mumford-Pautz. “And yet we are going to pay $15,000.00 for somebody to study what we do, and this will not be valued for our budget this year, and I don’t personally approve of spending the money.”
Town Manager Ingersoll countered that it would be possible that by the time the study is complete–which could be as soon as June– the town would still be within budget.
“This is something we are going to be using for a long, long time and we want to get it right,” added fourth ward council member Marty Stetson.
“I think doing it now is better than never, and when you look at the other towns using it, you can see that there are several advantages,” said Ingersoll.
“One of them is that you can get a handle on what your employees do, and how they rate with other communities like ours. This came up last year inthe budget process, and the year before. What do other towns pay somebody who does water and sewer work? It’s an emotional decision in the end as to what to pay employees in times like these, because you’re looking at other companies that have let people go, that haven’t raised them at all in years. This [study] can act as a tool for us.”
In other news, the Council also announced that the SHA has put out a preliminary plan for installing a traffic circle at the Rt. 20/ Morgnec Road intersection. Construction, according to Ingersoll is being “fast tracked” to start this year.
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