OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Wilmington City Council Special Budget Work Session - February 5, 2025

City Council & Planning Commission — Wednesday, February 5, 2025
BodyWilmington, North Carolina
SessionCity Council & Planning Commission
DateWednesday, February 5, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 3:17:00

Transcript — Verbatim
0:07

We'll call the meeting to order.

0:10

Special meeting of Women City Council's bunch of work sessions.

0:14

And this time I am going to take a roll call.

0:17

Mayor Putin with you here.

0:19

Council Rod Clark.

0:21

Councilmember Spears.

0:23

Councilmember Spears.

0:25

Council Member Wandale.

0:28

Council Member Joyner.

0:31

So we do have 12, all we're going to account for.

0:34

I'll turn it over now to our city government's office.

0:37

Any questions?

0:41

Plenty.

0:47

Good morning, Council.

0:49

Mayor Protein.

0:50

We appreciate your time as always to sit with us and work on this budget.

0:55

This is not emphasized.

1:01

So we appreciate you dedicating some time to it.

1:04

The agenda was relatively brief.

1:07

Hopefully, we will be out of here shortly after lunch.

1:09

You've done a little bit before.

1:11

But we have some very meaty topics that we need to speak with you about and get some direction on today.

1:17

As you know, during our last workshop, we have questions about the compensation package.

1:25

We provide you a great deal of information in the materials to talk about the compensation package.

1:32

And I suspect Clayton's going to get portion before the end of the day, but uh he's got a good deal of information to go over with you about that.

1:40

After you get this information, we'll seek uh some direction from you with regard to the course of action we'd like for us to follow and addressing these issues.

1:49

Following that, we will also have a review of our CIP.

1:54

This is uh uh ongoing five-year CIP, but this is our opportunity to make adjustments in that CIP as necessary in order to be able to accomplish me what it is that's uh that the city wants to accomplish over the course of the plan period.

2:12

Once we give you that information, we will again solicit information from you as a collective whole as to what you would like to see.

2:20

Um then finally, will you like to solicit input from you uh again as a whole of what you'd like to see included in the budget?

2:28

Of course, by the time we get to the end of this morning, you'll see there's not a whole lot of money left uh in terms of ability to be able to do expansion items, but we may be able to move items around within uh expenditures to be able to accomplish things that uh have changed as you have worked on this for the past year.

2:47

So hopefully uh we'll be able to provide an early picture of where we stand with regard to the expenditures and the revenue, and then finally close with some um general feedback from you.

2:58

Uh the city attorney does have some information regarding the towing matter that came up at the agenda or excuse me at the regular meeting last week.

3:07

Uh, and so she will be going over that at the end of the meeting.

3:11

With that, I'll be glad to entertain the first questions, or I just assume you've clayton let him start working on this.

3:19

Clayton, Clayton, hi.

3:22

Thank you.

3:22

Good morning, uh mayor, members of council.

3:25

So uh just start out reminding you all why we're here.

3:28

Uh, this is a follow-up from your November 7th, 2024 budget work session.

3:32

And in your um package should be a copy of that presentation that I may refer back to uh throughout those this morning.

3:41

But um, you asked us to follow up with the workforce demographics, um, an update on where we are with turnover and vacancy rates, and we have this data through the first half of the year for the first six months.

3:53

Um, and then we're gonna have a conversation about employee compensation.

3:57

Um talk about public safety proposals for a major adjustment, bringing our uh paid um bands in line with our benchmark peers, and then we'll talk about set plans.

4:08

Uh Mary Big U is gonna walk you through uh an example and talk about some of the challenges uh with uh implementing and maintaining set plans.

4:17

Um we'll talk about a promotional pay policy that council asked us to look into, and then we'll talk about a cancer policy.

4:24

Um we did do uh in the last couple months.

4:27

Uh my team did a study for our exempted hourly positions, so I will uh present the results uh of that uh later in the presentation.

4:35

And lastly, we'll finish talking about our benefits.

4:38

Uh we have put together a proposal for FY26 as well as uh multi-year approach uh going forward to make our benefits more competitive.

4:47

So I'm gonna jump right in with looking at our workforce demographics.

4:50

Um you'll notice uh majority white, 75% uh black is 6.7 percent, almost 17 percent.

4:57

On the next slide, I'll show you how we compare the community.

5:00

We have as when this data was pulled.

5:02

This is a point in time to get into January, 1,093 employees, predominantly male dominated with police, fire, public works, parks, those are generally male dominated service industries.

5:16

This chart right here is looking at how we compare to the city residents, New Hanover County, and the state.

5:28

And in terms of white and black population, we we do uh represent the community, the city and the county.

5:34

Um two areas where we're underrepresented would be two or more races and Hispanic.

5:39

Um we've tried to make some headway in those groups by uh doing some Hispanic radio advertising for specifically in fire for some of our positions.

5:48

We've done career fairs, we've had translators on site, um, and we're going to you know diverse groups to recruit HBCUs.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety██████████████████18%
Budget Equity Analysis███████████████15%
Personnel Matters██████████████14%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████████11%
Workforce Development█████████9%
Public Works█████████9%
Capital Improvement████████8%
Benefits And Compensation█████5%
Procedural████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Wilmington City Council Special Budget Work Session - February 5, 2025

The Wilmington City Council held a special budget work session on February 5, 2025, to discuss employee compensation, the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), and proposed towing fee changes. The meeting, which began at 8:30 a.m., featured presentations from city staff and extensive deliberation among council members. No formal votes were taken; the council did not reach consensus on mid-year salary adjustments, leaving the matter for a future meeting.

Discussion Items

Compensation/Benefits Package

  • Workforce Demographics: HR Director Clayton Roberts reported that as of January 2025, the city had 1,093 employees, 75.4% white, 16.7% Black, with underrepresented Hispanic and multi-race groups. Millennials make up 40% of the workforce; Generation Z has grown to 14%.
  • Turnover and Vacancies: The city is on track for a 13% annual turnover rate, the lowest since 2021. Current vacancy rate is 8.8% (105 vacancies). Police vacancies (41) are trending upward; fire vacancies (36) are being filled by 27 recent academy graduates. Parks and public works turnover has significantly decreased from last year.
  • Compensation Study: A benchmark study found police starting pay is 6.2% below market median; fire starting pay is 4.4% below. Upper ranks in fire are up to 8% off. A mid-year adjustment to align public safety pay with market medians would cost $3.1 million for a full year.
  • Step Plans: Deputy City Manager Mary Vigue presented pros and cons of step plans, noting that Raleigh’s plan dissolved after three years at a cost of over $30 million. A hybrid career ladder for entry-level police and firefighters (adding senior ranks after three years) was suggested at an additional $900,000 next year, contingent on fixing upper-rank compression.
  • Benefits: Staff proposed reducing health insurance premiums by $50/month (cost $800,000 annually) and contributing 50% to dental plans ($140,000–$200,000). Plan design changes would increase deductibles for high-deductible plans but impact fewer than 20% of employees.
  • Mid-Year Adjustment Options: Total cost for a full mid-year adjustment (public safety, grounds workers, and all other employees) is $4.7 million. Half-year cost from fund balance is $2.35 million. Council members debated whether to act now or wait for more revenue data.

Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

  • Overview: Deputy City Manager Thom Moton presented the five-year CIP, noting a cumulative funding gap of $19.3 million across projects.
  • Bridges: The Pine Grove Bridge project (total $12M) awaits federal grant decision by April/May. The 4th Street Bridge has a 10-ton weight limit; $4.4M is available for rehabilitation.
  • Parks Projects: Three projects are $1M over budget; staff is pursuing grants to cover $500,000 remaining gap.
  • Transportation Bond: A $20 million gap exists in the transportation bond program. Staff identified potential sources: $6.2M in debt capacity, $10M from Riverwalk Marina repair savings, and possible reallocation of vehicle registration fee revenue ($1.5M/year). Council members expressed frustration over project delays and lack of prioritization.
  • Programmed Unfunded Projects: Approximately 40–42 projects are on the unfunded list, to be considered if funds become available.

Towing Fees

  • Background: City Attorney Meredith Everhart reviewed towing fee changes since 2023. Current base rotation fees are $200–$250, with total costs ranging $275–$325. Proposed increases requested by towing companies would add numerous extra charges (dolly, winching, admin fee, etc.), potentially raising a non-collision tow to $575–$725.
  • Recommendations: Everhart recommended reducing insurance requirements from $250K to $150K, increasing base rotation to $250–$300, increasing after-hours release fee to $50, capping max tow at $500, and not implementing a separate fee for electric/hybrid vehicles. She also advised against rules that would disproportionately harm small towing companies.
  • Council Reaction: Council members generally supported the recommendations, with some noting the need to balance fairness to both citizens and towing companies.

Key Outcomes

  • No Formal Action on Mid-Year Adjustments: Despite extensive discussion, the council did not reach consensus on authorizing mid-year salary adjustments. Some members (e.g., Councilmember Waddell) pushed for immediate action for police and fire, while others (e.g., Councilmember Spears) preferred to wait for more revenue data. City Manager Caudle stated staff will not move forward without explicit direction from council.
  • Next Steps: The council will continue budget discussions at a future meeting. Staff will prepare a prioritized list of CIP projects for council review. The towing fee proposal will be drafted and brought back for a vote after incorporating council feedback.
  • No Public Comments: The meeting did not include a public comment period.

Note: The agenda and minutes indicate the meeting date as January 31, 2025, but the user-provided date is February 5, 2025. This summary uses the specified date.

Meeting Transcript

We'll call the meeting to order. Special meeting of Women City Council's bunch of work sessions. And this time I am going to take a roll call. Mayor Putin with you here. Council Rod Clark. Councilmember Spears. Councilmember Spears. Council Member Wandale. Council Member Joyner. So we do have 12, all we're going to account for. I'll turn it over now to our city government's office. Any questions? Plenty. Good morning, Council. Mayor Protein. We appreciate your time as always to sit with us and work on this budget. This is not emphasized. So we appreciate you dedicating some time to it. The agenda was relatively brief. Hopefully, we will be out of here shortly after lunch. You've done a little bit before. But we have some very meaty topics that we need to speak with you about and get some direction on today. As you know, during our last workshop, we have questions about the compensation package. We provide you a great deal of information in the materials to talk about the compensation package. And I suspect Clayton's going to get portion before the end of the day, but uh he's got a good deal of information to go over with you about that. After you get this information, we'll seek uh some direction from you with regard to the course of action we'd like for us to follow and addressing these issues. Following that, we will also have a review of our CIP. This is uh uh ongoing five-year CIP, but this is our opportunity to make adjustments in that CIP as necessary in order to be able to accomplish me what it is that's uh that the city wants to accomplish over the course of the plan period. Once we give you that information, we will again solicit information from you as a collective whole as to what you would like to see. Um then finally, will you like to solicit input from you uh again as a whole of what you'd like to see included in the budget? Of course, by the time we get to the end of this morning, you'll see there's not a whole lot of money left uh in terms of ability to be able to do expansion items, but we may be able to move items around within uh expenditures to be able to accomplish things that uh have changed as you have worked on this for the past year. So hopefully uh we'll be able to provide an early picture of where we stand with regard to the expenditures and the revenue, and then finally close with some um general feedback from you. Uh the city attorney does have some information regarding the towing matter that came up at the agenda or excuse me at the regular meeting last week. Uh, and so she will be going over that at the end of the meeting. With that, I'll be glad to entertain the first questions, or I just assume you've clayton let him start working on this. Clayton, Clayton, hi. Thank you. Good morning, uh mayor, members of council. So uh just start out reminding you all why we're here. Uh, this is a follow-up from your November 7th, 2024 budget work session. And in your um package should be a copy of that presentation that I may refer back to uh throughout those this morning. But um, you asked us to follow up with the workforce demographics, um, an update on where we are with turnover and vacancy rates, and we have this data through the first half of the year for the first six months. Um, and then we're gonna have a conversation about employee compensation. Um talk about public safety proposals for a major adjustment, bringing our uh paid um bands in line with our benchmark peers, and then we'll talk about set plans. Uh Mary Big U is gonna walk you through uh an example and talk about some of the challenges uh with uh implementing and maintaining set plans. Um we'll talk about a promotional pay policy that council asked us to look into, and then we'll talk about a cancer policy. Um we did do uh in the last couple months. Uh my team did a study for our exempted hourly positions, so I will uh present the results uh of that uh later in the presentation. And lastly, we'll finish talking about our benefits. Uh we have put together a proposal for FY26 as well as uh multi-year approach uh going forward to make our benefits more competitive.

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