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<br /> -- . <br />Blankenship: Most, means to the best we were able to address them. <br /> Questions regarding cost of living. I believe we <br /> explained that adequately to employees how we factored <br /> it into the pay plan and how we set the community wage <br /> curve, etc. Concerns not addressing the pay package <br /> specifically because we addressed the entire benefit <br /> package. Concerns over various changes and how it <br /> would affect those individuals. Even after the series of <br /> meetings that we held last week we have had just about <br /> a steady steam of department heads and/or employees <br /> or combinations of both visiting to express concerns and <br /> to have these concerns addressed. Something as <br /> mundane as job titles and as major as "you've under <br /> valued my job." I would say in that context, yes, we <br /> have addressed most of the concerns. There may be <br /> one or two that I don't know about and have not <br /> addressed, but I believe we have given an ear to every <br /> concern and have addressed it. <br />Carnival: Could you elaborate a little bit on the term <br /> "compression" as it relates to the Police Department and <br /> how that affects the other employees? My <br /> understanding of that is that experience is not taken <br /> into consideration across the board. <br />Blankenship: We are driving an economic animal here. We have a <br /> Police Department which the City feels is a highly <br /> competent police force; highly trained; veteran officers <br /> that we wish to keep as veteran officers of this City. <br /> They are harder to replace than another rank and file <br /> employee in another department. That is an economic <br /> fact of life. We can go out and recruit for want of a <br /> better job title, secretaries and have a hundred and fifty, <br /> two-hundred applications tomorrow. Whereas, we <br /> couldn't go out on the street and pluck a police officer <br /> and say you're a police officer tomorrow. We would <br /> have to go through an extensive background evaluation <br /> period; training period before that individual could be <br /> certified as street ready. That is the context in which <br /> we are addressing the compression factor. Officers we <br /> hired earlier this year, would be at the same pay grade <br /> level as an officer who has been on the force for two <br /> years/two and a half years, the inequity of that situation. <br /> That is the compression factor we are talking about. <br /> 11 <br /> -. <br />