Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, June 1, 2010,
Item 10B
>> 10 h1n1 b, consider and take appropriate action on the following, b, non-routine request from the travis county constable precinct three's office for a variance to the travis county code chapter 10.0295, peace officer pay scale. If we could lay this out, and mr. Reeferseed said he had a question and then we'll see if the court has questions.
>> thank you.
>> tracy calaway, hrmd and i'm also here with todd osbourne from compensation and mr. Stacy suits from precinct 3. I'm going to let todd provide a brief overview of this particular item. I understand you already have backup.
>> okay.
>> morning, judge, commissioners. In january of 2010, precinct 3 promoted an officer from a deputy to a sergeant, placed the officer, then sergeant at step 1 in the pay scale, and is now requesting the employee be moved to step 3 in accordance with section 10.0295, f-4. Typically progression on the pay scale is usually done on a step-by-step basis, but in this case i believe the constable's office is requesting this action based on internal equity issue. Planning and budget office has confirmed that the funding is available, so basically what makes this non-routine is that it's a little bit uncustomary to do a salary adjustment for a pops employee that isn't just a routine step increase. So i will let mr. Suits speak on his behalf.
>> when we hired this employee, they met the criteria on years of employment to come in at a step 3, but at the same time that they were hired they only had an intermediate license with tcleose and it could only come in at a step 3 or a step 5. When we promoted this person to sergeant they have.
>> the new sergeant that we're bringing on, we felt it would be appropriate that this person be placed at a level 3 now.
>> so the other sergeants in the constable offices are at step 3? The lead sergeant is at a step five, the new sergeant we're bringing in meets the criteria of being hired in at a level five, but we're placing him at a level three. And that is within --
>> so the sarlgts are step 3 or higher.
>> customarily sergeants would be a step 3 or higher.
>> throughout the county.
>> correct.
>> i'm new to this, so i'm not sure i understood why you hired him in at 1 instead of 3.
>> at the time his tcleose license was at intermediate license, and to bring him in at a step 3 or a step 5, they needed an advanced or master's tcleose license under the policy.
>> and they have since gotten the advanced and are working on the master's?
>> yes, sir, he's a few hours short of the master's.
>> what's the source of funding?
>> the position is currently unfilled. We have the funding for it.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> mr. Reeferseed, enlighten us.
>> yes, sir, i'm in favor. Frankly i'm against war obviously and i'm in favor of paying our hard working law enforcement personnel more. We need to pay them more and we need to face up to the real sacrifices that they potentially make every single day on their job. And when we pay our officers more, that means less problems. Not only for the officers, but for organized crime thugs and making all of them less vulnerable to the evil forces that are out there that we can be proud. The country to our south is in the process of dissolving, if y'all haven't noticed it. But they're literally dissolving as a nation. And it's because the organized crime thugs control the police world and we don't -- we're not that bad here and we can thank these guys, particularly travis county, i'm real proud to be part of our community because we have such an outstanding law enforcement community. We need to pay them more, they're doing a great job.
>> thank you.
>> let me clarify one thing. So if you have an advanced degree or license, you qualify for step 3.
>> yes, sir.
>> and this not -- not only does this canned a dat have -- candidate have the advanced license, he's close to getting the master's.
>> yes, sir.
>> so the master's for the three is higher than you really need, but for the master's do you qualify for the step five?
>> i'm not sure. I think it's just --
>> 10 years and -- 10 years and an advanced would be a step five. You would qualify for it. It's at the discretion of the elected official whether they want to place them there.
>> 10 years.
>> correct.
>> but as it is currently situated, this applicant -- i guess this sergeant really qualifies for step 3 because of the advanced license.
>> and we promoted him to be a sergeant. He had a -- the master's license at the time, and i instructed my staff to put him on as a level three. And while we were doing preliminary budget doing through the thing, i saw that it hadn't happened.
>> so the master's is not required for three?
>> the master's s the masters is required for a step 3 and a step 5.
>> and he's still two or three hours short of the master's?
>> no. He has the master's. Pardon me. He has the advanced. Pardon me. You need the advanced for the three and five. He has the advanced and he's just a few hours short of the master's currently.
>> and the master's is required for three as well?
>> well, the master's implies he has an advanced.
>> i'm sorry, i thought a masters was higher than an advanced. Was i misunderstanding that.
>> yes, it is higher.
>> okay. And the master's is not required for a three, but is required for a five?
>> it's kind of -- we're cutting the difference between having a driver's license and a commercial driver's license. The -- let's see. The advanced is required for step three and step five. And if you -- and a master's is optional. It's above -- the master's is above the advanced.
>> can i clarify something here.
>> that would be great.
>> according to policy, anybody with five to nine years of experience in an intermediate license is eligible to come in in step three. With 10 plus in advanced you can come in at step five. Again, both of these decisions at the discretion of the elected official. They can decide to bring him in step one if they want to. I suppose they could do it at step two, although it's not typically done. So that is the kind of break down. The masters is the highest of the three certifications, but it is not required to be placed in step three or step five.
>> okay. Thank you.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> sounds like he meets the qualifications.
>> and it is the total amount of -- the total funding source is all in your shop under the salary savings scenario.
>> yes, sir.
>> okey-doke.
>> any more discussion of the motion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 2:35 PM
