05-08-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO:Mayor Keis and Members of City Council FROM:Bill Dircks, Public Works Director DATE:May 3, 2019 RE:Seasonal Employee Hires and Wage Scale Increase The market for seasonal employees has tightened over the past few years. The City used to receive around twenty applications each year for seasonal employment but that number has dropped significantly. The last few years there has been an average of five applicants per year. There are two seasonals returning for 2019, which left five open positions to fill. Fortunately, all five applicants were solid and interviewed well so we have hired all of them for the 2019 season. Below is the list of seasonal employees for 2019. Note: Austin Johnson is working until the first week in June and then he is leaving for military training. As he leaves four others will be starting for the summer. It has been very valuable having Austin here to help get the parks up and running for the year. Austin Johnson - Third year but done in early-June Caty Marty - Second year David Gallagher - Second year Mick Kurvers -First year has already started Jake Henthorne - First year Riley Gannon - First year Lukas Wilson - First year Carter Morgan - First year As the minimum wage in St. Paul and other areas has increased, Cities have had to adjust their seasonal scales to match the higher wages available to part-time and seasonal employees. All cities and counties have seen the number of applicants drop over the past few years and almost all of them have increased their wage scales to try to attract more applicants. A look at the League of Minnesota Cities employment page shows that nearly all cities are starting their scale at or above $12 per hour. Staff has updated the seasonal wage scale to start at $12 per hour with the entire scale shown below. $54,200 has been budgeted for seasonal wages in 2019. The Finance Director ran some estimates based on the likely hours that will be worked by each employee and found that the City will be just under the budgeted amount at the proposed new wage scale. Staff will monitor the actual cost of seasonal employees versus the budget throughout the summer to make sure the City remains at or under the budgeted amount.