The Homer City Council approved resolutions at Monday night’s meeting that established a longevity pay system for city employees and committed funds as part of an application for a federal grant to replace float system’s in the city’s harbor.
The longevity pay system would give city employees who have been on the highest step of the wage scale for at least two years a lump sum every year. The council had the option to approve longevity pay equal to 1.5% or 2% of an employee’s base income, which would apply to 21 employees.
Council Member Rachel Lord supported the 2% increase, saying the larger percentage didn’t make a large impact in the city’s budget.
“In the scheme of our personnel budget, this is a very small difference,” she said, “In the scheme of impacting somebody's paycheck, from year to year, I think it has more of an impact there.”
The council also approved a resolution that commits more than $12.3 million as the city’s contribution to a float system replacement project. The city is currently applying for federal funding for the project, and a supporting memorandum for the resolution says committing local matching funds makes the city a competitive applicant.
In addition to the two resolutions, the council also passed an ordinance that requires any city leases on the Homer Spit to be reviewed by the Port and Harbor Advisory Commission.
The city council approved numerous resolutions through the consent agenda. The resolutions appoint city special projects coordinator Jenny Carroll as the acting city manager and update the list of people who are able to sign off city expenditures. They also directed the city’s Economic Development and Port and Harbor advisory commissions to discuss the impact of cruise ships and make potential recommendations to the council.
Through the consent agenda, the council also confirmed the appointment of people to the Library Advisory Board, Economic Development Advisory Commission, Parks, Art, Recreation & Culture Advisory Commission, and a task force for the 40th anniversary activities between Homer and its sister city.
The council will meet again in a special meeting on Thursday, and will hold its next regular meeting on May 13.
