City staff, council dive into fair labor standard changes

     In April, the Department of Labor (DOL) released new rules pertaining to some salaried employees in certain job classifications.

   Pertaining to the City of Monticello, those new standards impact the Monticello Public Library Director (Faith Brehm) and the Parks and Rec Coordinator (Grace Dupuy).

   The new rules, which took effect July 1, increase the standard salary level from $684 to $844 per week ($35,568 to $43,888 a year).

   On Jan. 1, 2025, the fair labor standard will again increase from $844 to $1,128 per week ($43,888 to $58,656 a year).

   City Administrator Russ Farnum explained that if you have employees that fall below these salary levels, they need to be paid overtime (OT). In the case of Dupuy, the short-term fix would be to give her that $880-plus raise and avoid paying OT.

   “With both positions (Dupuy and Brehm), the options would be to maintain the salary or limit the work hours to 40 hours a week and convert them to hourly positions and pay OT,” continued Farnum.

   Having spoken with Brehm about the situation, Farnum said she felt she could keep her hours to 40 a week with the two staff members who also work at the library.

   Dupuy’s position will be trickier because it’s a two-person department that requires a lot of nights and weekends, seven days a week.

   “Grace currently works about 200 hours of OT a year,” offered Farnum. “She is currently paid under her salary in the salary structure. If we were to go to an hourly rate on Grace’s pay, we would have to pay about 200 hours of OT a year at about $31 an hour.”

   Instead though, Farnum suggests hiring another part-time employee for P&R so the department can maintain its current level of programming and activities.

   “We could save some money by hiring a part-time person to fill in those couple hundred extra hours at a lower hourly rate, and keep Grace at 40 hours a week,” continued Farnum. “The P&R department has grown in both programming and parks they take care of. I think all of the growth that Jacob (Oswald, P&R director) has managed to do has been good for our community.”

   When Oswald started in 2017, there were seven P&R programs. Under his leadership, that has now grown to over 30.

   Farnum summarized by keeping Brehm at 40 hours and increasing Dupuy’s salary to $43,888, retroactive to July 1, the city would be in compliance. However, come Jan. 1, more decisions would have to be made concerning the P&R coordinator position.

   Earlier this year, Oswald requested approval from the council to hire a part-time employee at 200 hours; the council only approved 100 hours.

   In referencing Farnum’s statement on the increase of P&R activities, Oswald noted that when he started, they were serving 550 youth. Now, it’s over 1,000.

   “I think making that move from one person to two has shown its value,” he told the council.

   The areas P&R would like to expand its focus are teens and adults. Right now, Dupuy is working on organizing Adult Olympics, which also requires a number of volunteers.

   “At the end of the day, we still need a coordinator to oversee that as well,” he said. “Right now we’re at 33 activities/programs for the adults. That’s a lot to undertake and add onto Grace or my plate. We feel that having somebody, at least for now, on a part-time basis would help us out and cover Grace’s OT and facility hours.”

   “We can’t just continue and continue to hire staff,” said Council member Dave Goedken. “Budgets are getting tighter. We have to promote people to help. Unless you’re going to roll up your sleeves and help, you’re not part of the solution. I think we need to do more to promote people getting involved as volunteers.”

   Oswald said P&R oversees 90 volunteers with all of its programs.

   “Our programs don’t happen without volunteers,” noted Oswald. “No doubt about it. At the end of the day, you can’t just say we’re going to do something and it does it on its own. There’s a lot of background work that’s done behind the scenes that people don’t get. There are a lot of hours that go into one specific program. If we’re going to continue to expand what we offer to this community, we need some support from that side.”

   Council member Mary Phelan asked how would the council know if these part-time employees are not working past their allotted hours?

   “I have this fear that it’s just going to grow out of scope without real strategy behind it,” she said.

   Oswald said it’s really easy for the council to check on city staff’s hours by speaking with Deputy City Clerk Cheryl Clark.

   “That’s a trust thing. So I hope you trust me to say we’re going to stay under that 100 hours,” said Oswald.

   By adding more programming, he said the fees would help offset part-time wages.

   Phelan said she also does not want to see the city increase taxes to compensate more employees. Oswald said he is not looking to expand his budget.

   “We’re trying to work within what we currently have. There are areas that we can move around in our budget to accommodate for this position,” he said.

   The council asked Oswald to present a job description for part-time help, as well as where the funds would come from within his budget.

   Looking into the future, Council member Jake Ellwood asked how the city would remedy the fair labor standards if the DOL continues to change the rules.

   “There’s an easy answer to that,” offered Goedken. “If we’re forced to move everybody to hourly, that’s an option.”

   The council approved giving Dupuy an $800-plus pay increase, retroactive to July 1 to comply with the fair labor standards.