County to look at salary inequities

Sep. 22—The Great Recession forced the Glynn County Commission to freeze cost of living increases for seven years.

Employees hired since then have sometimes been paid at a higher salary that other county employees performing the same duties.

Commissioners, at a special-called meeting Tuesday, agreed it's time to address the salary compression issue. During a presentation to discuss the issue, commissioners learned salary compression is a problem with 25 percent of non-public safety employees, 32 percent of police department workers, 37 percent of county firefighters and 22 percent of sheriff's office employees.

The estimated cost to fix the problem is around $2.7 million.

Commissioner Bill Brunson said pay compression isn't the only problem, adding he has concerns about inflation and hiring practices. He suggested a review of the entire employee matrix.

"I think, unfortunately, we might have bigger issues than just compression," he said.

Commission Chairman Wayne Neal said something has to be done to keep the county from losing experienced employees.

"We need a compensation study across the board," he said. "It's going to cost money to do this."

Commissioners agreed to address the pay compression issue before doing a comprehensive study on county pay.

In other business:

—Commissioners agreed to support hiring a consultant to manage the process of harvesting timber at Blythe Island Regional Park. The proposal is to harvest timber on about 300 acres as part of a forest stewardship plan.

The advantages are to create a revenue source for the park, clear land for future development, insect control and to reduce the threat of wildfires. Concerns include potential impacts to wildlife, soil erosion, a temporary change in appearance after harvesting trees and the community response to a large harvest.

Commissioner David O'Quinn said he supported hiring someone to manage the process of determining the best way to harvest trees.

"This is the people's asset," he said. "I'd hate to clear cut this land without a plan for aesthetics."

—A floor plan for a new board of elections office was given approval. Elections supervisor Chris Channell said the proposed layout and design of the new office in the old CVS pharmacy building on Gloucester Street will meet all his office's needs into the foreseeable future.

The building will include video surveillance, a viewing area for the pubic to watch the tabulation of votes and plenty of storage for voting machines and all the equipment needed to manage an election.

The next step is to allow the architect to complete the plans and bring them back to commissioners for final approval.

—The county is in the midst of a two-year study on impacts to sea level rise in Glynn County.

During the presentation by Robert Brown, an engineer for the consulting firm Goodwyn, Mills & Caywood, told commissioners it's likely sea levels will rise about four feet by the turn of the century. The study will look at the vulnerability of county infrastructure and public safety facilities. He said the study reviews history and recent changes in sea levels, assesses critical facilities, provides data to the public and looks at the county codes and ordinances.

Commissioner Allen Booker said people don't understand what is causing sea levels to rise.

"There's a simple way to explain that, what is actually causing that," he said. "We don't have a bunch of icebergs that are melting."

Booker never explained the cause.