County health adopts new pay matrix despite concerns

The Washington County Board of Health voted 4-0 last week to approve and adopt a new pay matrix for public health department staff, set to take effect Thursday at the start of the next pay period.

While the motion was unanimous, health officials said they planned to modify the matrix down the road in response to various complaints from department employees.

“This is a step in the right direction, it’s not the final answer,” Public Health Director Emily Tokheim said. “I think that that final answer comes back to more discussion, more conversation. More perspectives have been brought up, there’ve been afterthoughts that are relevant to this conversation that we … do not have time to adequately and appropriately look at.”

Still, board members expressed frustration with the rush to approve the new matrix under budgetary deadlines after talks were delayed by transitions in department leadership.

“It’s a process that frankly, I believe the committee has just started, and we’re unfortunately at the point in the year where we have a budget proposal that’s already in,” Board Member Chris Grier said. “The ideal for this, I believe, would have been that it got started in September … I feel like where we’re ending up today is a best-faith effort that leads to a giant leap forward for the wages of our staff.”

While the new matrix raises pay for most employees and lower it for none, staff members said they had concerns about unfairness in the policy.

Some said they had initially been placed too low on the matrix.

“We’re putting employees on the scale so that they end up where they should be after the 7 and 3% (increases) which makes staff, in effect, forgo the cost of living,” Billing Specialist Jessica Janecek said. “We are not being appropriately placed on this scale … what was proposed on Tuesday was very unfair to our current staff.”

Tokheim said that issue had been addressed.

“The board voted to implement the matrix so that all staff will be aligned with their longevity here, per the matrix, prior to the 7% increase on July 1,” Tokheim said. “Staff are being placed in their appropriate pay scales now. We are not forgoing the (cost of living) increase.”

Still, other points of contention remain unresolved, including complaints about the pay scale’s attention to employees’ longevity with the department, rather than years of experience in their field, a number that extends further back for many on the public health team.

“I think it’s most acceptable that right now, everybody gets into their spot on the matrix, and unfortunately at this point that spot is going to be evaluated by longevity because we have not evaluated pertinent prior experience,” Grier said.

Adding to that frustration is the fact that newly hired employees would be placed on the pay scale based on their experience, rather than longevity, under changes to the department’s pay policy.

“If someone is hired tomorrow, their reflection in this matrix is very much higher,” Public Health Nurse Sara Hammes said. “I’ve been here for five months, and the difference this would make if I came in here tomorrow and applied versus today is drastic.”

Those issues still unresolved will be addressed by a committee in the near future, according to board members.

“There is a discrepancy between how hiring works with this matrix and how different staff get treated with this matrix, which is problematic and something that the committee really needs to figure out,” Grier said. “It’s not going to be the 100% correct solution right now because there hasn’t been time to deal with it.”

While that committee will look into the issue, Janecek said she was frustrated by the delay.

“This isn’t new knowledge,” she said. “I came to you with this discrepancy weeks ago … you guys knew that there was a discrepancy between years of service inside of Washington County Public Health and outside.”

While Grier said he sympathized with the concerns, he said rushing without deliberation would be worse.

“As a committee, I would encourage us to discuss in the next week or so what our timeline is going to be,” he said. “I acknowledge that that brings with it some sets of emotions that are like, ‘Dang it, why isn’t that ready?’”

Tokheim said she agreed.

"Going forward, yes, I would like to look at this, but today I’m not comfortable looking at one person’s prior experience and evaluating that if I don’t have time to adequately do that for everybody,“ she said. ”But for the task at hand, with the time crunch that we’re under with the budget, I feel that this is where we’re at today.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com