Topeka's underpaying of engineers results in 'astronomical' consulting costs, city leader says

Topeka's city government's practice of paying its engineers considerably less than what the market offers is forcing it to pay "astronomical" amounts in consulting fees, interim city manager Bill Cochran said Tuesday evening.

The mayor and council will learn Aug. 9 about strategies proposed to help resolve that, they were told during a work session in which they discussed the city's proposed 2023 budget.

'We're working those guys to death'

The topic came up as the mayor and council heard from Councilman Tony Emerson, who owns a contracting firm that carries out projects that include replacing streets, sewers and water lines.

Emerson interacts often with the city's public works department, he said.

"We're working those guys to death," he said. "I mean, I will be corresponding with them on a project and they'll send me something at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning in response to something, or at 8 o'clock on a Friday night, because they have so many things on their plate."

The public works and utilities departments employ fewer than their allotted numbers of engineers, confirmed Braxton Copley, director of utilities and interim director of public works.

The utilities department has been "short" four engineers since 2018 or 2019 while public works as been short four engineers for about two years, he said.

The public works department allots seven positions for full-time engineering employees, of which three are filled and four are vacant, Copley told The Capital-Journal on Wednesday. The department also has a part-time employees assisting, he said.

The utilities department allots seven positions for full-time engineering employees, of which three are filled and four are vacant, Copley said.

All of the engineering positions are salaried positions, he said.

'It's costing us a lot more money'

The city has been unable to fill engineering positions primarily because "we pay substantially less than they can make on the private market," Copley said.

A city employee with the job title of "Engineer IV" would generally be paid about $135,000 a year in the private sector, but Topeka's city government is paying between $30,000 and $50,000 less for that position, Cochran said.

While paying less to engineers has enabled the city to save money on salaries, "it's costing us a lot more" overall because because the lack of engineers forces the city to contract more with private consultants, he said.

Cochran would like to see the city take the money it spends on consulting fees and instead spend it on "hiring higher quality people," he said.

Stephen Wade, the city's administrative and financial services director, told the mayor and council they will hear a presentation at their Aug. 9 meeting about strategies aimed in part at addressing some of the concerns involved.

The city over the past several months has worked with a consultant to analyze market results for salaries, and details of that analysis will be shared at that meeting, he said.

The results suggest the city, moving forward, should set aside a pool of money to be distributed to jobs that it undercompensates compared to peer organizations, Wade said.

Some positions, such as those for engineers, may see a larger increase in pay as opposed to others that the city may already compensate at market rate, he said.

Hiring of permanent city manager was discussed

The mayor and city council on Tuesday evening also spent one hour behind closed doors in executive session discussing the qualifications of candidates who have applied for Topeka's vacant city manager's job.

They then voted to direct Topeka-based Key Staffing, the company helping the city find a city manager, to "proceed with further vetting of applicants and schedule interviews as appropriate."

The city has received applications from 40 candidates, including 13 with connections to Kansas, five who live in Kansas and two who are "local guys," Cochran said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka city leaders discuss negative effects of underpaying engineers