Evan Vitale Consulting: Vet board hires salary consulting firm

Friday, August 22, 2014

Vet board hires salary consulting firm – Hamilton Journal News (subscription)

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The Butler County Veterans Service commission agreed to spend $10,000 to hire the county’s salary consulting firm.

Executive Director Caroline Bier said the original quote from Clemans Nelson was $15,000, and the commissioners balked at the amount on Wednesday but eventually agreed to spend $10,000.

“The board was resistant to that amount,” she said. “I explained that, as an organization, it is very important that we get this done, and we need to think long term about having that set in place.”

The study will take about three months and Bier said the consultants will help them rewrite position descriptions, they’ll take a look at pay in other counties, and they will help develop a compensation plan.

The county is in the throes of a new pay for performance model, based on the survey the firm did several years ago. The firm is currently updating the county’s salary survey to see if salaries are still competitive. Vet board President Fred Southard convinced his fellow commissioners they needed a similar review.

“We didn’t know where we are, in my opinion, as far as salaries for our staff compared to people doing similar jobs in other counties,” Southard said. “Are we way high or way low, or are we right up there with everybody else? We need to get some grasp on where we stand.”

Southard asked for the salary survey before Bier was hired and Assistant Director Anna O’Neill reached out to 10 counties. The largest county, Hamilton County, provided a salary range of $62,000 to $112,000 for the executive director who commands nine employees serving 50,316 veterans.

The county closest to Butler County’s veterans population that provided a director’s salary was Lucas County at $75,004. That county serves 29,788 veterans compared to Butler’s estimated 27,000 vets, who are served by the 11-person staff.

When embattled former executive director Curt McPherson abruptly retired in February — amid allegations he created a hostile work environment — he was earning $91,420. Bier, a retired Marine who used to work in Quantico, Va., was hired in with a starting salary of $66,500.

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