Washington tries retention effort for certified staff

WASHINGTON — The city of Washington will now require staff trained for commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) to stay with the city for a number of years, or pay back the cost of the license fees.

“The cost of getting a CDL license has increased, the cost is like $1,800 now,” City Administrator Deanna McCusker said. “We understand the value of an employee getting that, and they have to have this. We just want to put in place something where we pay for that, and they have to stay employed … or they have to pay it back.”

The resolution said employees would pay back 100% of the cost if they left within a year of obtaining the license, or 50% of the cost for less than 2 years.

McCusker said the high demand for CDLs in other industries made them a valuable commodity, with a risk of pulling new city staff away.

“Sometimes we pay the cost and then they get their certification, and then they turn in their employment with us and go someplace else,” she said. “They take that license with them. So we want to invest in them and in turn want them to invest in us.”

The city implemented an agreement with the same language for its staff trained in other areas, with a separate resolution covering water and wastewater certifications.

“We do pay for them to take the classes, the testing,” McCusker said. “It’s $100 or less, but we do make employees more valuable when they get the certification. We want to make sure that if we’re giving them costs for their certification, they’re going to in turn give us some employment.”

Both resolutions passed with unanimous approval at the July 19 Washington City Council meeting.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com