Council advances personnel code updates and amends proposed three-year wage tie to assessed values

Lock Haven — The City Council on Nov. 13 completed a second reading of an update to Chapter 105 (personnel) and advanced a separate ordinance that would set wages for nonunion employees.

Staff explained the personnel-code changes are intended to align nonunion provisions with a recent union agreement. On the separate wages ordinance, staff said the proposal originally set a three-year schedule: the first-year increase would match the three-year average cost-of-living adjustment provided to AFSCME employees; years two and three would have tied raises to the county assessor’s reported change in assessed real-estate value with a floor of 1% and a ceiling of 2.5%.

“The first year would be the same rate as was provided to AFSCME employees in their agreement,” staff told the council. Staff also explained that employer contributions to health and dental premiums would rise to 10% next year, 11% the year after and 12% the following year.

After discussion, a council member moved to amend the wages ordinance to remove sections 2 and 3 (the provisions that would have tied years two and three to assessed value changes); the amendment was seconded and the roll call recorded affirmative votes from members present. Proponents said they support raises but did not want to fix increases for multiple future years to a metric they regarded as uncertain.

Council also debated taking parts of the ordinance under advisement and reconvening an executive session to clarify remaining items; the presiding officer agreed to schedule further review. No final implementation date for the wages ordinance beyond the first reading was provided at the meeting.

The council completed the recorded second reading on the personnel-code update and took the amended wages ordinance forward for further consideration and executive-session clarification.