Committee looks at on-call pay for buildings and grounds

Taylor County may start paying maintenance staff for time they are at home and on call.

As part of their job descriptions, county technicians with the buildings and grounds department are required to be on-call in case of emergencies that arise. The workers currently receive no additional compensation for those oncall hours.

County buildings and grounds director Joe Svejda said he wanted to establish a call system where staff are scheduled to be on-call. “But I think the compensation should be there,” Svejda said to members of the Taylor County Buildings and Grounds committee at their meeting on July 8.

He said they make the current system of just calling until someone can come work. “When it doesn’t work, that is not a good day,” Svejda said.

He noted that while they have been making the current system work, there have been situations where it was hard and frustrating for him.

Svejda said in his prior employment in the private sector, on-call pay is common for people who are required to be able to respond quickly to situations. He said he contacted buildings and grounds departments in Clark, Marathon and Oneida counties about how they handle oncall time. He said the places he contacted shared their policies which varied from paying people $2.25 per hour to be on call to Oneida County which pays a fixed rate of $20 per day for people to be on-call.

Svejda said his timing in coming forward now, was with the current lead technician retiring and having it in place when the new lead technician is hired. Svejda said he has the money in his current year’s budget to cover the additional wages for on-call pay and that, if approved, they would have to include it in future years’ budgets. He said he already spoke to human resources at the county about it, and was advised to have it go through the buildings and grounds committee and to the finance committee for action.

Committee member Jim Gebauer opposed paying workers to be on-call cautioning it could open a can of worms with other county departments, such as the highway department where crew members are on-call for things such as winter weather but don’t get paid when not working.

Gebauer noted that since all the technicians were able to do the tasks needed, they can all fill in as needed.

Svejda said he did not feel that the buildings and grounds department was comparable to being on call for the highway department. “I don’t feel that it is fair to be on-call and not be compensated,” he said.

Gebauer noted that being on-call was in their job descriptions. “You know when you take the job that it is your job,” Gebauer said .

Svejda said that when the technicians are on-call they will be asked to stay within the area and be able to respond when needed.

“I think it should be countywide,” said committee member Lisa Carbaugh.

That is what Gebauer said he was worried about having other departments want to start having on-call pay.

Svejda noted that technicians get called in about 10 to 15 times a year. He also noted that in the past three years he has not brought in summer help to help with the county budget as a way to save money. Svejda said he did not feel that the total amount that would be paid out would be very high.

“I think we should think about our department and the other departments will have to work on their situations,” said committee chair Diane Albrecht.

“I don’t want to throw gas on the fire,” Gebauer said, cautioning that calls for on-call pay could grow.

In the end, committee members voted 2-1 with Albrecht and Carbaugh in favor and Gebauer opposed to send it to the finance committee with the recommendation to implement on-call pay for the buildings and grounds staff. Committee members Rod Adams and Lorie Floyd were absent.

In other business, committee members:

★ Received an update to improvements that are taking place in Diamond Lake county park. The road through the park will be repaved, piggybacking off a town project to pave the road leading into the park. The county’s cost will be about $4,000 which is significantly less than if the county did it on its own. The county will also be working with the Roosevelt Rod and Gun Club to get large boulders placed to address erosion on the hill in the park.

★ Directed Svejda to get more information after getting an inquiry from someone about setting up a food truck at Sackett Lake park. Committee members noted that every request for people wishing to operate a business on county property would need to be handled separately. While not opposed to the idea of someone wanting to set up a food truck at Sackett Lake, they wanted more information on what is planned and what kind of schedule they were looking at. “I don’t see anything against it,” Gebauer said.

★ Received word that the Miller Dam boat launch project began on July 8 and is scheduled to take until the end of August. The project had been postponed to start after 4th of July due to heavy usage over the holiday. Those wishing to launch boats on the flowage can do so at the USDA boat launches in the campgrounds on the east side of the lake or at the other county boat landing along CTH G.

★ Received an update on the light pole replacement project at the fairgrounds. The project will include two 40foot steel poles which will allow for the wires to be inside the poles and make installation of the lights easier. They are awaiting information about putting in the footings needed for the poles.