LIBA calls for council investigation of salary survey

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By DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

A business group is calling for a City Council investigation of a salary survey conducted by the city’s personnel department last year.

The study of seven other cities was used to justify sweeping pay range changes, which took effect in January, that will gradually boost the paychecks of 139 management and professional city employees, who are among the city’s highest-paid workers.

Personnel Director Don Taute said the survey showed their employees were lagging behind the other cities by nearly 6 percent.

But inaccuracies in the data were unearthed by the Lincoln Independent Business Association and acknowledged by the mayor three weeks ago. After learning that a personnel department staffer made a misrepresentation about pay ranges in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mayor Coleen Seng ordered a fresh review of all the data and told Taute to take “any action necessary” to discipline the employee responsible for the erroneous information.

Taute has refused to comment on the matter, saying it’s a personnel issue.

LIBA contends that won’t address how and why the errors occurred, nor will it result in changes to ensure it doesn’t happen again. The group is even more concerned about the accuracy of the salary survey now that it’s had a look at it.

LIBA representatives were allowed to review the salary data and given about 20 sheets of data. But LIBA Executive Director Coby Mach said “those familiar with comparability studies of this sort” say such surveys should be at least seven times that volume.

“There should have been hundreds of pages to review, not 20,” Mach said. “LIBA is increasingly concerned about the manner in which major personnel changes have been made and the false and misleading information provided the City Council by city employees.”

Mach suggested the council either deal with the matter in private — in executive session, which is closed to the public — or hire a lawyer and conduct an investigation, subpoenaing information related to the salary survey.

“The city finds itself on dangerous ground,” Mach said. “The trust of the public in city government is at stake.”

Next week the council will discuss whether to invoke its investigatory powers or just question the personnel department further.

Councilman Jonathan Cook said it’s too early to say whether an investigation is necessary. First, he wants to see what the mayor plans to do. However, he said it’s important the council work to prevent such a situation from repeating itself.

Councilman Jon Camp said he’s not sure if an investigation should be conducted; his biggest concern is ensuring the council gets accurate data from city employees.

“We want to make sure the council is not just considered a rubber stamp,” Camp said.

While the issue is being sorted out, the council has put on hold an annual cost-of-living raise for this particular class of employees.

The Journal Star was unable to reach Taute for comment.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.