SYRACUSE - Long presentations and discussion kept the Syracuse Town Council meeting for more than 4-1/2 hours Tuesday.

McGrath Consulting LLC presented its compensation study for the Syracuse police and fire departments.

McGrath Vice President Dr. Victoria McGrath said the basic questions for the town include police and fire department salary parity and how compensation dollars should be allocated annually.

To answer those questions, she said, consultants met with the town council members, Turkey Creek township representatives, town manager Brian Redshaw, police chief Tom Perzanowski, fire department chief Mickey Scott and representatives of the town's employees. Information also was collected from ordinances of Syracuse and other towns.

Looking at the town's competitors for police employees, McGrath said, out of the other 13 municipalities that she looked at compared to Syracuse, Syracuse's police chief pay ranked 10th. The sergeant/detective ranked 12th out of 14 municipalities she looked at, while the patrol officer ranked 10th out of 12 and the probation officer ranked 11th out of 14.

In the fire department, the fire chief ranks eighth out of 11, the firefighters/EMTs rank sixth out of 10 and the firefighters/paramedics ranked third out of five. There are very few municipalities in the area that have firefighters/paramedics to compare to Syracuse's, she said.

Syracuse's compensation is around the median, she said, and she recommended the town stay there.

Factors that play a part in the town's ability to attract and retain police department personnel include low entry-level rate of pay and lack of a career ladder within the police department.

Five of the seven police officers have less than three years' tenure.

For the fire department, the town does have an ability to obtain and retain volunteers, which the town needs to keep going as long as possible. She said having fire department volunteers is becoming increasingly impossible nationwide.

"Volunteerism is going down in America," she said.

As for the firefighters/paramedics, the town has little competition to obtain and retain employees at this time. However, other municipalities in the area are looking at adding firefighters/paramedics, so Syracuse needs to keep an eye on that, she said.

As for the issue of pay parity between the fire and police departments, McGrath said, the idea that the different positions between the two departments are comparable is not true. Other than the fact that both departments serve the community, that's where the similarities end.

"Both are extremely important," she said. "Both are different."

Every position in an organization adds value. If it doesn't, the position should be eliminated, she said.

McGrath then presented several compensation options for the two departments for the town council to consider. Option one is based on average market rate; option two is based on increasing compensation each year of the employee's employment; option three introduces incentive pay; and the fourth option, which she recommended, is compensation based on market value plus merit with a maximum rate.

Advantages on the fourth option include salaries based on market value; flexibility in hiring; allows some growth; and creates a new level in the police department. Disadvantages include a need for the town to establish hiring guidelines and a merit/bonus system tied to predetermined objective criteria.

Another problem with the town's compensation is Syracuse doesn't have Public Employees Retirement Fund for its employees. McGrath said she is uncertain whether or not Syracuse's employees will qualify for PERF, but the town needs to look into it.

Also, the town needs to look into developing a town compensation structure, job descriptions and a performance evaluation system.

In other business, the council:

• Failed to approve Harrison Hill Condos' request for an exemption to allow the condos and the Syracuse post office, which is on property owned by Don Twitty, to exist on dual private sewer lines. Since 1998, the town has had an ordinance prohibiting two properties from sharing sewer lines, but the sewer line in question has been in existence since before 1998. Councilmen Paul Stoelting and Larry Siegel voted in favor of the exemption, but Carol Koble and Barb Carwile voted against it. Bill Hane abstained.

• Approved paying Greeley & Hansen an amount not to exceed $6,000 for the engineering firm to submit the preliminary engineering report on the town's water system and treatment plant to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and guide the town through the public hearing process on the report. The deadline for the report to be received by IDEM is July 29.

• Approved Gary Ball Custom Car's request to use the lower parking lot on Main Street May 25 and Sept. 6 for staging and customer parking.

• Heard the fire department will host an open house June 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and approved the closing of Henry Street between the alley and Ind. 13 on that date.

• Approved Jack Elam to serve on the park board.

• Approved a bid from TransTech Electric, South Bend, to replace an electrical conduit at the wastewater treatment plant for $3,875.

• Approved a bid from Gasvoda & Associates for an amount not to exceed $17,294 to repair a lift station at the end of Brooklyn Street.

• Approved a bid from Wawasee Tree Service for $1,675 for hazardous tree trimming in the town.

Members of the Syracuse Town Council are Carol Koble, Barb Carwile, Bill Hane, Paul Stoelting and Larry Siegel. They meet at 7 p.m. in the Syracuse Town Hall on the third Tuesday of every month. [[In-content Ad]]