Travis County Commissioners Court
April 7, 2009,
Item 15
15.approve modification no.
3 to contract no.
ps080190re, evergreen solutions llc., for compensation analysis services.
we will call up that facilities item next, okay?
>> marvin.
>> good afternoon, judge, Commissioner, marvin bryce, we had this item before the court last week, however there was a discrepancy with an attachment that's actually the deliverable schedule.
that was accompanied the department memo versus the one that accompanied the actual modification.
we have since corrected that discrepancy, had the corrected attachments actually scope of work and time table delivery schedule and we think it's ready for approval.
>> marvin, let me ask you a question.
what do they do actually if -- what do they actually do with mss, what do they do?
>> this particular modification, Commissioner, calls for ever green solutions, excuse me, to provide technical expertise and guidance to the compensation committee.
more specifically facilitate meetings, as well as external subject matter.
act as an expert in external subject matter.
there is a whole laundry list of items that I can go through to tell you exactly what they are doing.
>> so county staff received this particular training?
>> I'm sorry?
>> does county staff receive this particular training I guess?
>> not to my knowledge.
this isn't particularly trained assistance, evergreen solutions.
>> well -- who -- who -- we're paying them, I'm trying to see the benefits of why we're paying them.
>> I will let the purchasing department --
>> Commissioners, this is a contract that we discussed with the court oh, several months back in a work session when we were going to put together the compensation committee.
at that time if you recall, we had the issue of market salary survey for fy '09 and the creation of the compensation committee.
because of the staffing shortage in h.r., we decided it would be the best and most expedient method to get the compensation committee to get expertise outside expertise to help us put together the compensation committee, do the research and whatever counties, governments, private sectors were doing with their pay scales and their entire systems.
provide that research compensation committee, put together agendas for the compensation committee, facilitate those meetings, report back to the court on progress and then also work with the -- with a comp committee to put together not only their report, but do a separate report to the court on any changes that would be recommended for your compensation system.
and that ranges all the way from pay scale to implementation of market salary surveys to pay for performance.
and all issues having to do with compensation.
>> > all right.
my question was -- was will -- will the county staff be receiving this information from this group?
>> oh, yes, yes.
>> that's why I asked.
>> yes, sir, yes, we will.
>> I guess after we have received this type of information, then I guess we will become experts and we don't need them anymore.
>> well, we --
>> [laughter]
>> yes, sir.
>> well, that's why I said training because --
>> no, no, let me clarify.
we have expertise on staff.
what we did not have is time.
we don't -- it's staffing and time.
this is augmentation to our own expertise on staff and of course people that focus just on compensation, it's -- it's also added a level of expertise.
so it's time and the expertise.
and to some extent you are right.
because we have done this.
we did have --
>> we have done it before.
yeah, yeah.
>> 98, when we brought someone in from
>> [indiscernible] Texas state university.
that helped us put together our compensation system that we have now and our market salary survey methodology.
and they came in.
they assisted us.
and then they left.
and it was -- it was taken over and has been modified by our own staff.
>> well, then that -- I'm going to be done.
but that leads me to this question.
whenever -- whatever they expose the compensation committee to, their findings, whatever, I guess that's passed along to you guys.
i'm wondering when we will -- when will we be able to return to the way it used to be before we had to hire these folks?
when we did it in house, we had the time and also the staffing, you know, that's kind of --
>> I think that -- it depends on the particular project.
we often hire consultants because they have an expertise in a particular area, whether it be employee relations or engineering or in this case compensation.
and I imagine that -- that in -- October 1st is when I think we had said that the new system would begin so we'll only use them through this summer and -- and in fact thank you for bringing that up because I do have an item that will be going to my subcommittee which are Commissioner Gomez and you, Commissioner Davis, on -- on a pay scale.
i had put that on the agenda and the judge had directed me to work through the subcommittee to bring it back on the agenda.
but to your question, I think that their work is done at the end of sent.
>> okay.
i -- end of September.
>> I wanted to flush that out.
when I looked at that, I saw the amount of money and hours it didn't really specifically say this would be employee committee related.
and so that's what -- that was my concern.
i have no problem with it as far as if we are able to benefit from it the way it is now.
>> yes, thank you.
>> all right.
>> > but we're convinced that the services described on page 2 have not been paid for in those first two
>> [indiscernible] this would be additional services for us.
>> yes, additional services.
>> above and beyond what the original contract as well as the first two mods call for.
>> I have a question about the modification number 3.
the meeting false station.
facilitation.
how many facilitators are there and what is the scope of the specific work-related to that $15,000 increase?
>> this particular mod we really have two individuals that are working on audit of this component of the work.
they do everything from putting together the agenda to sending out notices to doing research for the committee to -- to -- to lay out or to do the -- the basic research work on a particular -- like for example pay scale.
what other counties are doing, what the -- what the most current theory is, on it, they looked at the federal pay scale, for example.
and -- and so they are working with -- with the committee on those issues and they actually then did go to all of the meetings an facilitate the meetings and have -- have a specific objectives for each of the meetings.
>> so the -- so the initial contract covered what?
because I thought that was whatever green was doing was doing research to facilitate --
>> do you want to --
>> the initial contract that was effective 3-18-08 actually engaged ever green to complete the non-tcso peace officers pay scale, market study.
but then that was followed by the first modification which really included augmented services to that non-tcso pop study.
the second modification came at which time we were completing carry overwork from fy 2008 I believe it was, the i.t.
career ladder study as well as -- as well as -- I'm missing something.
it will be included there.
in the middle of that, it was an overlap.
maybe that's probably what might be causing a little bit of the confusion it's because modification 3 overlapped with two.
and the overlap had to do with -- with us coming into the port, you are giving us specific direction on what you wanted to do in terms of the compensation committee and basically directing us at the same time because of workload concerns to engage evergreen to support the facilitation of this stakeholders group.
so there's not an overlap in services between two and three.
they are related.
but it's not an overlap in terms of their deliverables.
>> the work is sort of involved -- evolving.
that's why last time it was hard for me to understand, okay, now what do we pay for in the second modification and what is the third modification -- where does it start, what services are covered by it and that's what they worked on this year.
>> we were real specific about drawing that distinction and I know one piece of the backup that we provided because most of the work and modification to was actually a complaint.
mod 2.
here we are in mod 3 where we are facilitating the committee members and some of the work that was committed under two as a part of the evolving work of the committee.
so it's not an overlap related but not an overlap.
>> just to remind the court, only in the comped unit do we have two positions posted.
the comp manager and then another position for -- for a compensation analyst.
we trust once we get those professionals on board we will have less use for a consultant.
>> those are budgeted but unfilled.
>> that's correct.
>> yes.
one point as to add to what alicia said.
we weren't sure if we would continue with the annual market salary study.
the discussion in court was can you handle both with your working load.
we were saying if you direct us to do the job analysis project to continue with that, then we would need some additional support to complete and work with the compensation.
out of that court discussion I don't remember the date that we were basically given that direction to proceed with mod 3.
>> yeah.
>> okay.
>> was it in January?
>> so if we -- if we add up mod 1, 2 and 3 that the cost of the outside assistance to the compensation committee or is there additional -- some of the carryover -- a little bit of carryover?
>> to the compensation commission specifically, mod 3, about $15,000 for this particular piece.
>> and just to clarify, Commissioner Davis, we have internal compensation experts.
it was the workload issue that had us pull in the external compensation experts to complement our efforts.
>> I remember the discussion in the fall.
we did say we wanted the work to continue and new stuff, they indicated that they could not do all of it in-house.
it was just between 2 and 3 that I wanted to make sure that we were not double paying for the same services.
>> uh-huh.
>> I got my question answered.
>> any other questions?
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion of the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you all very much.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 2:03 PM