City employees provided personnel policy updates, compensation study

Ben Conley, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
·2 min read

May 24—MORGANTOWN — A pair of documents behind recent turmoil among some city of Morgantown employees have been distributed.

Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy said the city's newly updated employee handbook as well as the classification and compensation study performed for the city by GovHR were made available to city employees on Monday.

As previously reported, the city has spent the last year or so working on the first substantial update to its personnel rules in three decades. Those changes will take effect July 1.

This issue has been percolating in recent months as representatives of both the city's fire and police departments have publicly asked city hall to be more responsive to their concerns regarding upcoming changes to city personnel policies.

In comments before Morgantown City Council, city firefighters—including IAFF Local 313 President Mitchell Beall—said they were concerned about how proposed changes to sick, vacation and holiday time would impact firefighters.

On May 11, a lawsuit was filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court claiming the city wrongly denied a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #87 President Brandon Viola seeking access to the compensation study.

Stacy said at the time the study would be provided to all employees once it was completed.

The 106-page study delves into everything from wages and benefits to job titles and classifies each position from city manager to laborer.

It also compares the offerings for employees in Morgantown against 17 comparable cities in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

"First, it establishes internal equity (ranking) among employees across Departments in the City. Second, it assures external equity /competitiveness by comparing the compensation of Morgantown employees against market data, " GovHR explains in the executive summary.

While the updated handbook and compensation study have been provided to city council, they do not require the body's approval. The city manager has the authority to implement changes to personnel rules.

Stacy said city administration and human resources staff are meeting with the city's various departments this week to discuss the changes.