Sparta Officials will launch a comprehensive pay study to address rising employee turnover, following a Thursday night vote.
City Administrator Tonya Tindle said the city needed the study after several resignations highlighted significant wage gaps between the city and neighboring jurisdictions. Tindle said the analysis will evaluate the current compensation landscape.
“That will take our pay scale and the positions that are in those pay scales and they’ll look at the demographics and the geographic and everything else,” Tindle said. “And so we hope to in July go ahead and contract with a company that’s done the last two or three.”
Tindle said the pay study will provide a range from medium to maximum for every job description in the city to help the board make informed decisions on future adjustments.
The discussion regarding wages continued as the board moved to fill multiple vacancies across several departments. One official said departing employees are finding significantly higher pay elsewhere, noting that one individual started at $30 an hour at a park while another position in Lafayette paid over $52.
“Pay,” Sparta Police Chief Nick Dunn said, “We’ve had two quit, Andrew Corso went to work for the parks which left his sergeant position open. Devon’s worked for us, he’s been there, he’s been doing a good job, which left a patrol spot open. We have another patrol spot open, Thomas Lafferty left and went to a sheriff’s office in West Virginia.”
In other business, the board approved the hiring of Spencer Bowyer and Sean Johannas, as well as Jesse Wood as a Trades Helper 1. Tindle said the city is currently hiring five different people due to a mix of retirements, promotions, and resignations.
The city also promoted JT Knowles to truck driver after he passed his CDL requirements.