2025-69-Minutes for Meeting February 21,2025 Recorded 4/2/2025ecnrded in Deschutes County CJ202 a-69
Steve Dennison; County Clerk
Commissioners' .journal 04/01 /2025 4:13:34 PM
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Deschutes County Clerk
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ELECTED OFFICIALS COMPENSATION BOARD MEETING
9:00 AM, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2025
Allen Room - Deschutes Services Building - 1300 NW Wall St - Bend
(541) 388-6570 1 www.deschutes.org
AGENDA
MEETING FORMAT: In accordance with Oregon state law, this meeting is open to the public and
can be accessed and attended in person or remotely, with the exception of any executive session.
Zoom Meeting Information: This meeting may be accessed via Zoom using a phone or computer.
To join the meeting via Zoom from a computer, use this link: http://bit.ly/3h3ogdD.
• To join by phone, call 253-215-8782 and enter webinar ID # 899 4635 9970 followed by the
passcode 013510.
CALL TO ORDER
AGENDA ITEMS
1. Introduction and overview of the role and responsibilities of the Elected Officials
Compensation Board
2. Presentation from HR Answers, Inc., a consultant who is helping to facilitate the review of
compensation for the County's elected officials in 2025
3. Next meeting: Friday, March 7th
ADJOURNMENT
Deschutes County encourages persons with disabilities to participate in all
programs and activities. This event/location is accessible to people with disabilities.
If you need accommodations to make participation possible, call (541) 388-6572 or
email brenda.fritsvold@deschutes.org.
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ELECTED OFFICIALS COMPENSATION BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
Allen Room
9:00 am FRIDAY February 21, 2025 Live Streamed Video
Present were Board members Jim Fister (via Zoom); Krisanna Clark -Endicott (via Zoom); and Judy Trego.
Also present were County Administrator Nick Lelack; Deputy County Administrator Erik Kropp; Deputy
County Administrator Whitney Hale; Chief Financial Officer Robert Tintle; Budget & Financial Planning
Manager Cam Sparks; and BOCC Executive Assistant Brenda Fritsvold.
This meeting was audio and video recorded and can be accessed on Deschutes County's
YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hWD4KcNong&feature=youtu.be.
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 9:03 am.
Deputy County Administrator Whitney Hale provided an overview of the meeting
agenda and said the goal is to get direction on which comparables to use going
forward so data can be gathered and compiled. Hale reminded that in April of
2024, the Board directed that Jackson County no longer be used as a comp for the
purpose of assessing compensation levels.
Laurie Grenya, president and owner of HR Answers, reviewed relevant statutory
obligations and limitations pertaining to County Compensation Boards, noting that
the Board is bound by State law to establish compensation for certain positions
but not others. In Deschutes County, the Board has historically established
compensation for other elected officials not named in the ORS—e.g., the District
Attorney and the Judge who oversees the County's Justice Court.
Trego recalled the Board previously discussed the need to compare compensation
with other counties in view of the cost of living in each county. With regard to the
pending expansion of the Board of County Commissioners from three positions to
five and in consideration of the County's budget situation, she supported
distributing the total compensation now provided to the current three
Commissioners between the five members of the expanded Commission.
Grenya said although this would likely be lawful, she was unsure if it would result
in the Commissioners being paid a competitive wage. She allowed that an
organization's financial considerations are always a factor when deciding
compensation issues.
ELECTED OFFICIALS COMPENSATION BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 21, 2025 PAGE 1 OF 4
Fister suggested that when the BOCC is expanded, the County can assess the
workload of each Commissioner to determine whether the same amount of work
is being done as before with three Commissioners. If the amount of work done is
unchanged but newly spread out between five Commissioners, that would result in
each of their workloads being 65% of what they were before. Fister stressed the
need to look at comparables and workloads and consider how work is distributed
across the BOCC.
Fister added that although the Sheriff has the ability to set the pay rates for his
subordinates, State law requires that the Sheriff be paid more than any
subordinate in DCSO. With respect to the comparables, he emphasized the need to
ensure that jobs are compared with like jobs and said it's useful to take into
consideration what an elected official is making as well as what their next -in -line
person is making.
Grenya confirmed that State law requires this analysis.
Clark -Endicott said it's important to keep in mind that County Commissioners are
elected officials, not employees. She agreed it will be necessary to identify what
their jobs entail and how the work is distributed when the Commission expands
from three to five members, and questioned if the cost to taxpayers should
increase if the same amount of work is being done with five Commissioners as was
done with three.
Fister cautioned against making assumptions about what may happen and said
data is needed before any adjustments are made. He urged that the Board base its
decisions on data.
Clark -Endicott said the compensation for the new positions should be determined
before candidates file for office so everyone is clear on the salaries before filing.
Trego expected that if the work being done by three Commissioners will instead be
done by five, each Commissioner will be doing less work.
Fister said in addition to looking at the cost of living in various regions, the Board
also needs to consider the scope of job duties —for example, the number of
parcels/properties overseen by the Assessor's Office.
In response to Trego, Grenya said State law requires that all comparable
jurisdictions/organizations be located in Oregon.
Trego said the data she has seen indicates that the Sheriff is underpaid.
ELECTED OFFICIALS COMPENSATION BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 21, 2025 PAGE 2 OF 4
Fister advised looking at population sizes and the total square rnilage of counties
when considering which comparables to use, saying the goal should be to have
one common set of comparables with very few exceptions for certain positions.
Grenya spoke to the importance of being consistent in using comparables to
determine compensation, noting this will require evaluating variations which have
been previously recognized to determine if they remain valid. She reviewed
compensation best practices, saying the primary factors for comparables are
comparison of duties and responsibilities, budget size, and staff size. Some
positions will have comparables in the private sector, but others may not.
In response to Deputy County Administrator Erik Kropp, Grenya said the use of
private sector comparables is appropriate if public sector staff are recruited and
hired from the private sector, and if the private sector draws staff away from the
public sector. Grenya explained that the transfer of skills between those sectors
can and does happen.
Continuing, Grenya reviewed data elements for compensation, as follows: base
pay; differential payments (e.g. longevity); and benefits (health/retirement/
deferred compensation). She recommended that the City of Bend not be used as a
comparable; that the counties of Marion, Lane, Clackamas counties be used; and
that private industry data as filtered according to budget/staff size and
geographically leveled by Deschutes County using two survey sources also be
used.
Responding to Trego, Hale said Marion County has three Commissioners while
Lane and Clackamas have five.
In response to Fister, Grenya said the use of "geographical leveling" can account
for Deschutes County's cost of living as compared to the cost of living in other
locations. Fister said some employers underpay staff in Deschutes County because
simply living and working here is viewed as a benefit, outside of whatever
compensation one receives for their work.
Fister suggested looking into whether COIC would serve as a good comparable.
Grenya agreed to research its budget and employee numbers.
Fister asked if three comparable counties are sufficient. Grenya said having two
comparables is best practice, and using three plus private industry comps will be
enough.
Discussion ensued regarding appropriate comps for the Sheriffs position,
ELECTED OFFICIALS COMPENSATION BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 21, 2025 PAGE 3 OF 4
specifically: whether the City of Bend would be an appropriate comp, although the
Sheriff is elected and Bends' police chief is appointed; the number of staff who
switch employment between DCSO and Bend's Police Department; the fact that
Bend and Redmond deal with tourism -related issues as the County does. Trego
asked if the other counties have stabilization centers and/or Search and Rescue
operations.
Grenya reminded that HR Answers will evaluate duties and responsibilities of the
positions used as comps.
The Board members stated their concurrence with the proposal to use
In response to discussion regarding the recommended removal of the City of Bend
as a comp for elected officials, Grenya said the reason for this recommendation is
because the scope of responsibility of the positions are very different.
The Board members stated their concurrence with the recommendation to
remove the City of Bend as a comp for elected officials.
With regard to use of private industry data, Fister asked to review this when it is
available and stated his concern that it may not be helpful. Clark -Endicott agreed
that although it will be interesting to review, the information will be disparate from
that involving elected officials.
NEXT MEETING: 9:00 am on Friday, March 14th
ADJOURN:
Being no further items to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:18 am.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
RECORDING SECRETARY
ELECTED OFFICIALS COMPENSATION BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 21, 2025 PAGE 4 OF 4