DEVILS LAKE, N.D. – On Tuesday evening, July 21, in the Commission Meeting Room at the Ramsey County District Courthouse, the Ramsey County Commission spent a sizeable amount of time during their regular meeting reviewing the county government’s salary schedule for its employees, as part of the 2027 budget process; the discussion was then continued in a special follow-up meeting on Monday, July 27 at 8 a.m. to determine required decisions for simplifying the structure of the current salary schedule. Present for both meetings were Chairman Blaine Volk, with Commissioners Bill Hodous, Ed Brown, Jeff Frith, Paul Wilhelmi and County Auditor Kandy Christopherson
Conferring with the commission on the salary schedule was the county’s HR consultant Nicole Bakkegard, MBA, PHR, who appeared at the regular meeting via video call on Tuesday from her primary location in Fargo, then appeared in person before the commission in the following Monday meeting.
“At the last meeting, there was some discussion and probably some confusion surrounding the current salary chart,” Bakkegard said during her July 21 video call, acknowledging that she also had some phone conversations on the subject with Chairman Volk. “I have not been able to find in any of the documents that I’ve found, where there was every any guidelines given of how to actually use what was developed here. And so I think that what has happened is you have used a combination of many different methods throughout the years.”
As it currently stands, the salary structure has 25 steps and 14 grades. Bakkegard’s review identified the following concerns:
- · Inconsistent use of the salary scale over time
- · Employees placed outside intended steps.
- · Salary adjustment made outside the formal structure.
- · Limited written guidance for promotions, reclassifications, and red-circle salaries.
- · Difficulty forecasting long-term compensation costs.
Jason Kraft, who has worked for the Ramsey County Highway Department almost 29 years and has worked in his current position as department superintendent for over a year told the commission members during the regular meeting on July 21 that in the current system, his salary range is maxed out due to his years of experience. “Under the current model, there’s no room for growth for a new supervisor who just took a newer position with more responsibility,” he said. “And it’s not just me. It could happen to any department, but I’m just sharing that as an example.”
Volk held responsible Brian Senger, the previous head of the county’s HR department, for the current issues with the salary structure. “When you got your promotion,” Volk told Kraft, “Part of that reason was our last HR, and I’m going to throw them under the bus, did not put the 3% in where it was modeled to be. And if he would have done that, we could have taken where you were, would have shown a bigger number, so that it would have looked like you went to a different step instead of going right to the max. … He didn’t do his job, plain and simple.”
Things got heated in the July 21 meeting when Volk raised the subject of budget cuts and where the cuts would be possibly made, including staff reduction, which got pushback from Christopherson. “We are so understaffed right now,” she said.
In the July 27 meeting, Bakkegard presented alternative options, including a more simplified structure that featured 20 steps and 14 grades, that would be easier to manage, easier to explain and would be more consistent across departments. She provided spreadsheets to commissioners to review the proposed changes. She observed that there were numerous policies that needed updating, allowed for Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA) for which the current model is not set up well, and red-circle employees (“red circle indicates that an employee’s salary exceeds the maximum pay for their job grade, often resulting in a temporary pay freeze). The recommended changes will probably take at least a two-year period to implement.
Bakkegard acknowledged that are conflicts inherent from an HR perspective, moving between concerns about compensation versus recruitment. “What may be good for a budget, may not be good for an employee,” she said when she appeared in person at the July 27 morning meeting.
Discussion once again got heated as Kraft felt that Volk was not allowing him to fully make a point, leading Bakkegard to intercede, saying, “This is a very emotional thing.”
Towards the end of the special meeting, the commission moved to implement a “hold harmless” approach, meaning that an employee’s current base hourly rate or base salary would not be reduced because of the compensation model review; the motion passed.
The commission also moved to recommend several different versions of the proposed salary structure which recommended 4% at the top, 3% in the middle and 2.25% at the bottom. That motion also passed.
After the meeting adjourned, Volk said he was satisfied with the outcome. “No one’s going backwards,” he said. “Everybody will get a raise in the end. … I think the employees were understanding that I was trying to make them go backwards and never once was I going to do that. I’ve seen a flaw in the system we have. It’s needs to be fixed.”
Aug. 10 is the deadline for a preliminary version of the 2027 budget.