[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Report of Compensation Equity Committee--Item 8B

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

CAC asked for a written report of the Compensation Equity Committee prior to our meeting on Feb. 3rd. Andrew Shoemaker and I are on the Committee.  This is my report of our work. Andrew has seen an earlier version of this. If he has anything to add, he can do it by email or at the meeting on February 3.


In November, Council authorized Andrew Shoemaker and me to form a committee to review the fairness of compensation paid to the three Council employees. To that end, Andrew and I have met in early December and early January with the HR Director Joyce Lira and Aimee Kane, HR Customer Service.


>From these meetings, we have learned the following:

1) We discovered that because cities’ pay raises to employees generally is not available until the Jan-Feb timeframe, that it is not possible for us to review and make recommendations before mid-year—at which time the Morzel-Plass evaluation committee will be doing its work.

2) We arrived at an understanding that compensation paid by cities to managers, lawyers and judges is determined by a number of competitive factors, and those factors all need careful consideration. These include the demands of the prospective employee, the city’s willingness to pay, the difficulties and challenges of the post, the ambitions of the City to do new things, the experience and training of the employee, length of service, the engagement of the community, and the like.

3)  We arrived  at an understanding that the list of peer cities that we have used in the past are not wholly satisfactory. Some are not peer cites, even though they are close by geographically. Other cities that are useful comparisons ought to be added to the list because of their similarities to Boulder. As to such a list, we have asked HR to come up with factors that would help determine whether the cities are useful comparisons or not; and we have asked HR to come up with a proposed list of cities with whom to compare Boulder based on that list of factors.


4) When HR comes up with that list of factors and cities, we want to get Council to review and comment on the list.

Perhaps at that point in time, when 4 is completed, our compensation equity committee ceases to exist, and the evaluation committee takes over, incorporating what we learn in the mid-year evaluations.


Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member
1726 Mapleton Ave.
Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 447-3062
(303) 638-6884