16 - Public Sector Personnal Consultants Agreement to perform a compensation studyItem No. 16
TO: Mayor & City Council
FROM: Grayson Path, City Manager
SUBJECT: Comparable Pay Study Consultant Agreement
Public Sector Personnel Consultants, Inc.
DATE: December 14, 2020
I_I-INIT4110Y.611610 ON
The FY20/21 Budget includes $30,000.00 set aside to fund a comparable pay study for all City
Full -Time positions. The last comparable pay study was conducted in the early 2000s.
Maintaining a competitive pay plan is vital for attracting/keeping talented and skilled personnel
which in turn benefits the citizens of Paris through knowledgeable and consistent work product.
To perform such a study requires the services of a qualified professional comparable pay
consultant.
STATUS OF ISSUE:
The City Manager has identified Public Sector Personnel Consultants, Inc. (PSPC) as a qualified
consultant to perform the Comparable Pay Study. Several firms' qualifications were reviewed
with PSPC rising to the top. Numerous Texas municipal references were contacted, each one being
extremely pleased with the work product, consistency, timeliness, and cost of PSPC.
An agreement has been prepared between the City and PSPC with a comprehensive Scope of
Service (attached). The Scope of Service provides great detail, but in short, PSPC will review the
City's existing positions, job descriptions, pay scales; identify comparable/competitive agencies
to conduct a detailed survey; compare our positions to those comparable positions; and work with
City Staff to recommend a plan of action to implement adjustments based on our budget with
appropriate phasing. On top of an immediate report comparing positions, PSPC will also assist
the City in drafting appropriate compensation strategies for ongoing pay plan maintenance as well
as a maintenance assistance review one year after the study is completed.
The plan is to have the study completed in time for the FY21/22 Budget preparation. A
presentation before City Council will be provided upon completion of the study.
iJ1141=
The attached agreement is a not -to -exceed $25,000.00.
OPTIONS:
1. Approve the Professional Services Agreement with PSPC and authorize the City Manager
to sign.
2. Request additional information and/or edits to the agreement/scope of service.
3. Reject the Agreement and advise the City Manager as to next steps.
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Approve the Professional Services Agreement with PSPC and authorize the City Manager
to sign.
This Agreement is entered into by the City of Paris and Public Sector Personnel Consultants, Inc, (DSPC),
2824 N. Power Road #113-486 Mesa, AZ 85215 (mailing address, NationalOffice).
This Agreement is for PSPC to conduct a compensation study as reflected in ExhibitA
attached.
CONTRACT TIME ESTIMATE
The tentative start date is January 1, 2021. Te City and PSPC will partner to complete the study within 120
days. This agreement s all remain in effect until 11Ipirw 30, 2021
CONTRACT COST ESTIMATE
At no time shall the total contract exceed $25,000, without further approval and modification of this
agreement.
CONTRACT BILLING AND PAYMENT
We do not require any advance payments, and will provide monthly invoices forte professional services
provided and out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the month. We request that invoices be paid within
thirty(30) days of their receipt.
SEVERABILITY
That should any word, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase or section of this Agreement, be
adjudged or held to be void or unconstitutional, the same shall notaffect the validity of the remaining portions o
said agreement, which shall remain in full force and effect.
VENUE
The laws of the State of Texas shall govern the interpretation, validity, performance and enforcement of this
Agreement. The parties agree that this Agreement is performable in Lamar County, and that exclusive venue
shall lie in Lamar County.
TERMINATION
This Agreement may be terminated by either party with days written notice.
ASSIGNMENT
The assignment of this Agreement by any party is prohibited without the prior written consent oft e other Party,
AMENDMENT
Any amendment of this Agreement must be in writing and will be effective if signed by the authorized
representatives of the Parties.
NOTICES
Any notices under this Agreement will be effective if transmitted to a Party by confirmed telecopy or via US Postal
Service, postage prepaid, certified, to the address of the Party indicated below:
City of Paris
Mr. Grayson Path
City Manager
135 SE 15t Street
Paris, TX 75460
NO THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES
a
Public Sector Personnel Consultants, Inc.
Matthew Weatherly
President
2824 N. Power Road #113-486
Mesa, AZ 85215
Nothing in this Agreement, express or implied, is intended to confer any rights, benefits, or remedies under or by
reason of this agreement upon person or entity, other than the City and PSPC.
APPROVED FOR APPROVED FOR
CITY OF PARIS PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL CONSULTANTS INC.
By: .......... — By:
(Signature) (Signature)
Name: Name: Matthew Weatherly:......_m...........................................
Title:Title: President
Date: Date:
EXHIBIT A - SCOPE OF SERVICES
SUMMARY OF SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF PARIS
PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL CONSULTANTS (PSPC) proposes the following program of consulting services
and implementation support to conduct a compensation survey.
Project Planning and Communication
1. Telephone planning meeting with the City's Human Resources Staff and project designee(s)
2. As -needed policy input and project direction meeting with City Manager, HR and designee(s)
Compensation Survey and Analysis
3. Occupational familiarization by review of City's current job descriptions and compensation plans
4. Organizational familiarization by review of City organization charts, budgets, and annual reports
5. Identification of survey comparator agencies for use in external data collection and job comparison
6. Identification of survey benchmark job classifications to develop custom survey database (target -75+)
7. Solicitation and collection of pay plan data, organization charts, budget documents for survey
8. Application of published private sector data and weighting of public and private market data as desired
9. Consolidation of data from all sources and calculation of prevailing rates for benchmark jobs
10. Computation of extent City's compensation offerings vary from external prevailing rates and practices
11. Review of competitiveness analysis with Human Resources, City Officials and City's project designees
A lication of Data: Compensation Plan U datin
12. Development of new, updated, or modified pay range tables and salary tables for City selection
13. Assignment of job classes to salary ranges by internal equity and external competitiveness
14. Linkage of survey data to non -benchmark jobs for "whole plan" updating of pay range placements
15. Assessment of payroll including compression, range penetration, and modeling of alternatives
16. Fiscal impact estimates at various levels of external prevailing rates competitiveness policies
17. Review and critique of draft salary and implementation plans with Human Resources, project leaders
Communication of Results and Implementation Strategies
18. Preparation and presentation* of a final project report for the City Council, staff, and City Officials
19. Development of a plan for the implementation of City's updated compensation plan
20. Uploading of EZ COMPTm program files on a City computer, staff training
21. Development and provision of process for ongoing plan maintenance and subsequent plan updates
22. Assistance with communicating the City's updated plans for all City officials and employees
23. One year compensation plan maintenance assistance at no cost to the City
* pending COVID-19 restrictions, can be performed virtually at little or no cost
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PROJECT APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY
Following is our overall work plan and approach to achieving the City's objectives for the conduct of a
compensation study.
A. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
The recommended plans, programs, systems and administrative procedures will meet these ten most
important criteria.
- Internally equitable
- Externally competitive
- Readily understood
- Easily updated & maintained
- Legally compliant & defensible
B. SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
- Financially responsible
- Efficiently administered
- Inclusive of employee input
- Reflective of City's values
- Reflective of prevailing "best practices"
The project shall include: partnership with the Human Resources staff, City Manager, City Officials, and project
designee(s); occupational, organizational, and operational familiarization; EZ COMPTm; salary and benefits
compensation survey and competitiveness analysis; updated salary range recommendations and models;
fiscal impact estimates and multiple implementation scenarios; updated compensation plan and one year of
compensation plan implementation support for all included job classifications.
C. COMPREHENSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMPENSATION PLAN
1. City Involvement in Com enation Plan Development
We will obtain policy direction from the City Manager, Human Resources staff, and/or City Officials on the
following key components of the salary plan development process:
- Comparator Employer Selection
- Benchmark Job Class Selection
- Compensation Competitiveness Policy
- Salary Structure Selection
2. Comi2rehenslyq Compensation Survey
- Job Evaluation Method -Salary Plan Linkage
- Draft Compensation Plan Review / Critique
- Compensation Points for Analysis
- Project Implementation Plan
We will collect the complete pay plans from each of the City's comparators and build a custom survey
database to ensure accuracy and completeness, unique to the City's job classifications_
a. Data Collection Protocol will be developed in consultation with the City's project leaders to
determine which salary data elements to include, such as:
Salary and Benefits Information
Salary range structure Minimum, Midpoint, and Maximum
- City -supported or provided benefits s/a insurance premium allowances
Add pay, certification pay, paid time off, other items identified and confirmed by City
CPTX PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL CONSULTANTS 12/20
b. Benchmark Job Selection will be made by identifying City job classes common to its employment -
competitive public and private employers in the immediate area and throughout the region or State,
clearly identifiable, and representative of standard occupational job groups.
c. Comparator Employers Identification will be made in consultation with the City's Project
Manager(s). Criteria include their degree of competition to the City in obtaining and retaining high
quality staff, their location in the City's traditional recruitment areas, and their organizational size and
complexity.
d. Compensation Data Collection will be made by one or more of the following methods.
Pre -survey contact with the selected comparator employers to solicit participation in the City's
compensation survey(s)
Extraction from the pay plans of designated public employers.
Customized salary survey requests for local governments and other public employers, distributed
by mail, fax, and e-mail.
As desired, additional data extraction from established salary surveys and commercial survey
sources such as Watson Wyatt, ERI, AWWA, etc.
e. Data Quality Control includes editing data for accuracy and proper matching to the City's survey
benchmark jobs, and phone/fax/E-mail follow-ups for data clarification and to obtain comparators'
benchmark job descriptions.
3. efteyvailing Rates Calculation
We will consolidate the compensation data from all sources, enter the information into the EZ COMPTM
program, and compute the prevailing rates, inclusive of cost of living differentials, as the statistical mean
of the survey data for each benchmark job class. Data will be projected forward from the date of collection
to a common date relating to the City's salary plan year by the annual Prevailing Rate Increase Factor
(PRI) applicable at that time.
4. Compensation Competitiveness Comparison
We will provide the City with charts comparing its current salary structures to those of the selected public
and private comparator employers. We will calculate the extent that the City's offerings vary from the
prevailing rates and practices of other relevant employers.
5. Compensation Competitiveness Polic
We will assist the City to select a compensation competitiveness policy which best fits its compensation
strategy and financial resources, by providing fiscal impact estimates at various percentage relationships
to the prevailing rates.
6. Salary Plan Structure Uodatin
We will 1) prepare updates to the City's current wage plan structures or 2) prepare alternative salary range
structures and schedules for the City to select the best fit for its competitiveness strategy, with these
optional criteria:
- Method of administration, i.e.: measured job performance, longevity, or skill
- Width of the salary ranges, grades, or broad bands, from Minimum to Maximum
- If steps within the salary ranges, number of steps, percentage separation
- Number of salary ranges, grades, or broad bands in the salary schedule
CPTX PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL CONSULTANTS 12/20
7. Salaa Range Assignment Development
We will assign each job classification to a salary range in the City's current or selected new salary structure
on the basis of a combination of factors, including:
- the prevailing rates for the benchmark job classes
- its current relationship to similar or occupationally related job classes
- the 15% guideline for salary range separation between sequential job classes
- the 25% guideline for salary separation of a department head job class
8. Im lementation Plan Develo ment
We will consult with the Human Resources staff and Project Team on a plan for transition to the
recommended plan, including a timetable for the principal activities, employee communication, multi-year
strategies as needed, and estimates of required financial resources.
D. FINAL REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS
1. Draft and Final Reort Pre aration
We will provide the City's project leader(s) with a draft of our report for review and critique, including
market data, salary comparison tables, fiscal estimates, salary range listings, and implementation
procedures. We will incorporate their critique into the development of a final report summarizing the
project's findings, recommendations, and detailed description of the City's updated compensation plans.
2. Final Report Presentations
We can conduct a workshop or formal presentation of our final report and recommendations to the Human
Resources staff, City Officials, and employees. Quoted as optional pending COVID-19 restrictions and
desired communication approach. Can be performed virtually for little or no cost.
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