BELLEAIR BEACH - The City Council polished off three ordinances mainly devoted to housekeeping and then heard a report on personnel at its special meeting Tuesday.
Two of the ordinances dealt with changes in the city's codes in light of the police department going out of business while the other set closing hours and parking rules for Morgan Park which is now public - that is, open to anyone at all.
After 10 minutes devoted to ordinances, the council members heard a presentation from the Temple Group and had a discussion on the report for about 40 minutes.
The presentation was a review of all the jobs in Belleair Beach, excluding police, services of which will now be handled by the Sheriff's Office.
An evaluation of the jobs, knowledge and skills required and compensation paid were measured against 10 other jurisdictions in the area.
As part of the service from the Temple Group on the job survey the system will be tracked for five years with evaluations measured against other cities in terms of requirements and compensation.
One of the things the city will do is interview employees - there aren't that many, actually - about how they feel about their jobs and the contribution they make to the city.
Councilmember Richard Crowl ask Mayor Lynn Rives to make recommendations to be implemented in light of the Temple Group report, particularly in terms of pay, but Rives cautioned that his concern for the immediate future is what the Legislature in Tallahassee will do in terms of tax reform.
That is the big item that has all municipalities holding their collective breath and staying away from any discretionary spending.
One point brought out in the discussion on how employees did their job concerned a reluctance to have pay increase because of longevity on the job. Instead, merit and application were stressed.
