A consultant hired by Lake Mills to review its municipal staffing and service levels says that the city is struggling to hire and retain employees, in part due to the wages that it offers.
The staffing report, delivered to council members at their Feb. 7 meeting, identifies two dozen city employees who are paid less than what consultants deemed a “competitive” rate, sometimes by multiple thousands of dollars per year.
Other changes recommended by the report include restructuring some city departments, implementing new training, performance reviews and vacation policies and hiring two new police department employees.
The city hired McMahon, a municipal services consultant, last year to review the city’s staffing in an effort to look ahead as the city grows and services expand. The study was split into two parts: one focusing on fire and EMS, the other on all other city services. The fire and EMS section of the report was delivered to the city council in December, as the city mulled its options for the future of EMS service in Lake Mills.
The second half of McMahon’s work found that the city’s staffing shortage was affecting the city’s ability to render services to residents.
“The City of Lake Mills is staffed at a level under that needed for the service levels desired by the city. A number of departments have struggled to maintain the level of services due to employee turnover,” the report reads.
Lori Gosz, presenting the report from McMahon, told the council that the number of staffers who left the city in 2022 was “startling to hear.” The results of an employee questionnaire “indicated concerns” that wages were driving retention issues, according to the report.
For each city position, McMahon identified a salary that it thought to be competitive, based on an analysis of other municipalities, and defined a 20% range with that salary as its midpoint.
“It is always the goal to move employees to the midpoints of their range,” the report says.
Twenty four city staffers were found to be below the midpoint for their position, and five were below the minimum of the identified range. To move every city employee to that midpoint would cost Lake Mills an additional $108,422 in wages and benefits each year, according to the report.
“It’s something that we probably can’t do in year one,” Council president Greg Waters said of the pay bumps. “Maybe we phase it over five years … it’s important for us to understand the real financial impact of all this.”
Waters noted that some of the recommended changes are “easy pick-offs” that can likely be accomplished quickly, though he did not specify which.
The report also recommends the hiring of two additional police department staff—one full-time officer and one part-time investigator. Police chief Steve Schroeder had asked the city council to consider adding funding for two new full-time positions last month, when members were debating a possible public safety referendum. The Lake Mills School District has offered to provide $50,000 annually for a School Resource Officer in the district, which would cover about half of the cost of a new full-time officer.
The police chief position also does not have a formal employment contract, the report said, and the current agreement “does not adequately address or define certain benefits or requirements.”
In addition to pay and staffing level concerns, McMahon identified areas for improvement in the city government’s organization and efficiency.
For instance, Dan Drescher, the city attorney, currently handles much of the city’s human resources work. The report recommended hiring a new HR specialist to take on that role. Other HR recommendations included implementing consistent orientation and performance review processes, as well as a new vacation policy.
The report also recommends the city consider splitting its public works department into two separate departments. Under the recommendation, public works would maintain city streets, parks and cemetery work, which it currently oversees, and take on responsibility for forestry, which is split among multiple departments. A new utilities department would then take control of water, electric and wastewater services.
The city should also seek to improve its IT service for staff, the report says, calling the current contracted service “inconsistent.”
Waters said that the report hit on many areas where the council has already discussed making changes, including vacation pay, staffing versus contracting for certain services and pay changes based on job performance.
City manager Drake Daily said that the council would likely need to start having conversations on how to implement the report’s recommendations early this summer, if it wants to incorporate them into its 2024 budget.SPORTS
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