COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A study into wages and job classifications for Branch County employees will not be conducted by a consultant.
Following a suggestion from County Administrator Frank Walsh, the Branch County Board of Commissioners decided during their Thursday morning work session that the work should be done in house ahead of this year’s union negotiations.
The cost of the proposed study was $50,000 and was included in the 2025 budget.
Commissioner Tim Stoll cast the only no vote. He felt last September the issue should be looked at after several departments made reclassification requests in recent years.
But Walsh pointed out union negotiations would likely not be finished by the time contracts expired at the end of the year if there was a study of between four and six months. Five union contracts have to be negotiated this year.
He plans to look into how Branch County stacks up with neighboring counties, not with counties in distant parts of the state.
The Commissioners decided last September to put off the study until after the new County Administrator took office on January 1, 2025. Former county Administrator Bud Norman previously reported the last studies took place in 1982 and again in 2000.
The Commissioners gave Norman permission last June to obtain Request for Proposals for a County Wage and Reclassification study. A previous quote that was received a few years ago said it was going to cost roughly $60,000 to $120,000.
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