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3. Use of the Stanton Mean. The City uses the Stanton Group as its benchmark for establishing compensation and for compensation analyses and pay equity analyses. Section 3.01 of the Personnel Manual indicates that maximum salaries are equal to the “to 100% of the mean of the DCA Stanton Group 5 cities contained in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Salary Survey published annually by the DCA Stanton Group.” This is outdated in the sense that we are no longer in the Stanton Group 5, but rather, Stanton Group 6. (Group 5 cities are those with populations in excess of 25,000.) I contacted the League of Minnesota Cities and Labor Relations Associates regarding the availability of other compensation benchmarks. Both LMC and Labor Relations indicate that most cities use the Stanton Group, referring to it as “the standard” in compensation analyses. While the City is free to establish its own group of comparable cities for compensation analyses, the League cautions against this especially if the City has union contracts or collective bargaining agreements in place. It was communicated to me that unions and collective bargaining units prefer the consistency that the Stanton Group provides throughout the metro area. One Councilmember indicated that it made no sense to compare ourselves to cities having populations twice our own. A valid point to be sure. In response to that concern, a more select list of cities were used for the 1997 and subsequent analyses—Arden Hills, Lino Lakes, Mendota Heights, North St. Paul, Prior Lake, Robbinsdale, Rosemount, Savage and Vadnais Heights. 4. Expense Reimbursements. Section 1.50 of the Personnel Manual addresses reimbursements incurred by employees while traveling on behalf of the City. It reads: REIMBURSEMENT: Employees must complete an expense statement form and attach receipts for any allowable meals, lodging, transportation and/or parking expenses incurred. After obtaining Supervisor approval, submit the completed form to the Finance Department. All expenses must be supported by receipts. The City’s Purchasing Policy further addresses employee reimbursements, but neither the purchasing policy nor the personnel manual place time limitations on when expenses need to be submitted for reimbursement. Some employees hold off on submitting expense reimbursements until enough are accumulated to make reimbursement worthwhile as well as to minimize paperwork. An example of this would be an employee submitting two or three months worth of mileage reimbursements, with perhaps four separate entries totaling $30.00. Other employees may forget to submit an expense reimbursement immediately after incurring the expense. In either case, delay does not cause the finance department a problem. If the Council would like, we could add language in both areas to suggest that expense reimbursement requests be submitted promptly or when practicable. RECOMMENDATION: Discuss the above issues and direct staff to make whatever revisions or corrections the Council feels appropriate. Respectfully Submitted, James Ericson Interim City Administrator