The Johnson County Animal Shelter is shown. Three staff members will receive raises after a Johnson County Council debate Monday night.
Three animal shelter employees will get raises after a lengthy debate Monday night.
The Johnson County Animal Shelter/Animal Control came before the Johnson County Council Monday to request a pay raise for the department’s deputy director, kennel manager and shelter coordinator. The department also requested title changes for two positions, changing shelter coordinator to medical manager, and deputy warden to community cats coordinator.
The pay raise for each position varied. Under the original request, the deputy director’s annual salary would have been raised to $46,800 from $42,748 — a $2,961.15 increase. Kennel manager would have been raised to $39,000 from $31,200, a $5,700 increase. The renamed medical manager position would have seen the largest raise, increasing the annual salary to $35,100 from $26,000, according to county documents.
Johnson County Animal Control Director Cari Klotzsche requested the raises because those in the positions have stepped up and taken on more responsibility over the last few months. There have been a lot of changes to the department, including making it more efficient, since Klotzsche took over as director. The staff deserve raises, she told the council.
“I’ve given them more than even what was on their plate before, and everyone’s stepping up,” Klotzsche said. “I’m hoping to give them raises that they desperately need and deserve.”
Klotzsche used the county’s salary study to help come up with the numbers, but purposely chose not to pursue the maximum amount recommended under the study, she said.
County officials were hesitant to approve raises during a non-budget year, officials said during a nearly hour-long debate. Council member Jim Ison questioned the timing of the raises, saying while he supports them, the council should wait until after a new salary study is completed. The council also greenlit another salary study on Monday.
Council members asked if there were other ways to fund the raises. Klotzsche told the council the funds could be taken from a vacant animal control officer position. At the end of last year, the county had three open animal control officer positions, which have been filled. There is a fourth position that remains open, and the decision was made to leave it open until the training was done for the new officer, she said.
Klotzsche said her team can easily make it work without the officer for the next six months or so.
County commissioner Brian Baird, who was there in support of the Animal Shelter, told the council if Klotzsche could find the funds for the deputy director and kennel manager positions, they should at least give the raise to the medical manager.
“She is very, very underpaid. To be honest with you, if we lose her, we’re looking at another train wreck. We’ve had enough train wrecks out there this year,” Baird said.
County council member Ron Deer said he had difficulty understanding where the numbers came from, but the positions should at least be brought to the level of pay they should have been under the previous salary study. He also questioned why they weren’t already at or near the levels the study recommended.
The deputy director position was not brought to the level recommended by the study because the previous deputy director was not involved with the law enforcement aspect of the shelter through animal control, instead focusing more on managing the shelter. The current deputy director is a former law enforcement officer and works routinely with law enforcement throughout the county, including the sheriff’s office and prosecutor. The current deputy director has different responsibilities, Klotzsche said.
Baird told the council that while the previous animal shelter management made mistakes, it’s hard to hold people accountable for something their director did. The council should, if anything, raise the pay for the medical manager position, he said.
“I think we really need to bring the $26,000 (up). This is criminal, what we’re paying her,” Baird said. “If we can at least get that one up, I think we can live with the other positions and try to figure out a different way (to pay for it).”
Council members also asked about possibly using American Rescue Plan Act funds for raises, but county attorney Shena Johnson advised against it. While ARPA funds could be used, the council shouldn’t dip into the $10 million in discretionary funds for something like this, as the money will go quickly, she said.
Other council members said they support what the animal shelter is doing. Council member Rob Henderson said he supported Klotzsche’s request. Council member Pete Ketchum agreed, but said he was afraid of approving the raises as presented because it could open a can of worms down the line with other officials changing job descriptions to get raises approved.
The council voted whether to approve the request, citing extraordinary circumstances due to changes in leadership, but the vote failed 4-3, after Deer said he wanted the council to reconsider the request. Shortly after, officials discussed transferring the funds from the vacant position instead, and voted to table the discussion until the end of the meeting so Klotzsche and county coordinator Barb Davis could work out the math for a transfer.
Later in the meeting, Klotzsche and Davis came back before the council with a new request, this time to transfer $13,078 from the unfilled animal control officer position.
Under that proposal, the deputy director’s annual pay would be increased to $45,238. The kennel manager’s annual pay would be increased to $37,964. And the medical manager’s annual pay would be increased to $34,642.
The council approved the request in a 5-2 vote.
