The Odessa City Council is scheduled to discuss the use of ARPA funds, an employee compensation study and the performance of Odessa City Manager Michael Marrero during its regularly scheduled workshop meeting Monday.
The Odessa City Council voted unanimously to hire an outside firm to conduct a compensation study of all city employees in July after it was revealed the Odessa Fire Rescue has lost more than 60 employee over the last two years.
Evergreen Solutions has since informed the council the city’s public safety employees are paid at least 15% below those in peer cities, but those numbers do not include add-0n pay firefighters are given for certain certifications they acquire as part of their job.
Evergreen said on average the city is paying its general government employees 4-7% below their peer cities.
Last month, Evergreen Solutions said preliminary figures show that if the city were to decide to only address beginning salaries for general government and public safety employees, it could cost the city $7.5 million to $9.5 million.
To address beginning salaries and compression for both sorts of employee groups, it could cost the city $9 million to $12 million, excluding extra costs associated with retirement and other benefits.
A couple of attempts to give the firefighters raises prior to the completion of the compensation study have failed because a majority of the council wanted to wait to see the results. They also expressed concerns about how the city would sustain the raises beyond the next year.
However, three of those council members were replaced Nov. 22 after running unopposed for the seats of Tom Sprawls, Detra White and Mari Willis.
In addition, Mayor Javier Joven also recently convinced Medical Center Hospital to repay a $3 million loan 22 months early, telling CEO Russell Tippin in a text he wanted to “infuse salary increases in 1-4 year fire suppression OFR personnel.”
Councilwoman Denise Swanner has also expressed her belief American Rescue Plan Act money can be used for firefighter raises. Both Swanner and Councilman Mark Matta have also previously indicated they believe Odessans would be OK with paying more in taxes to fund fire department raises.
City Manager Michael Marrero and Assistant City Manager Cindy Muncy have not returned repeated phone calls and texts on the topic.
Marrero is one of five city employees who were evaluated in October, but he and the others are scheduled to be evaluated again on Tuesday. Rumors have been swirling that Marrero’s job is in danger.
Councilman Steve Thompson said he doesn’t know why the evaluations are back on the agenda considering they just happened and new council members Chris Hanie, Greg Connell and Gilbert Vasquez were just sworn in.
Thompson questions how they can offer a legitimate opinion on any of the employees, which include Judges Keith Kidd and Carlos Rodriguez, City Secretary Norma Aguilar-Grimaldo and City Attorney Natasha Brooks.
Because the evaluations that took place in October were in executive session, Thompson, who has been on the council two years, said he can’t discuss what was said about any of them.
However, he said his worst fear is a majority of the council members will vote to fire Marrero and the others were placed on the agenda as “window dressing.”
Lately, Thompson said Joven, Swanner and Matta have been corresponding with city staff via email, but excluding him. The only reason he knows that is city staff includes him in the responses, he said.
“I think it’s sneaking around. They’ve got some agenda and I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s just not ethical,” Thompson said.
In his view, Marrero is doing an excellent job, Thompson said.
“Michael’s well qualified for the job,” Thompson said. “He’s a good delegator, his people work hard for him. They like him. They respect him. Over the past two years, I can’t identify anything he’s done to warrant being dismissed or being asked to resign or whatever you want to call it, but I feel that that is their interest and I’ve got no way to stop it.”
Thompson called Marrero a “fine young man” who is forthright and spends time answering council members’ questions.
“The problem is the council keeps running around him, Matta, Swanner and the mayor go around him, straight to department heads and so forth. They micromanage and that’s not fair,” Thompson said. “My prayer is that these three new councilmen will let their conscience be their guide.”
Joven, Matta and Swanner did not respond to texts and Vasquez and Hanie did not return phone calls.
Connell said he doesn’t know why the evaluations were placed on the agenda, but he’s been conducting some research.
“Basically it’s just been seeing what I can find online in the Odessa American and touching base with people. You need to try to reach out and get a feel,” Connell said.
He’s been using the city directory to find people to speak with, Connell said.
“If there is an assistant to a person then I would go to that person. If there was a secretary listed, just using the directory,” Connell explained.
In other matters, the city is scheduled to discuss leasing six vehicles for a year to be used by undercover police officers. ACME Auto Leasing is offering to rent the vehicles at $795 a month each for a total estimated cost of $57,240.
