City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: October 24, 2023
Agenda Item: 5.K
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Lori Gentles, Chief People Officer, Human Resources Department Subject: Adoption of a Resolution Revising Executive Pay Plan (EPP) to Provide for Relocation Allowance Benefit
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt the attached Resolution authorizing the City Manager to revise the Executive Pay Plan (EPP) to provide for a relocation allowance benefit.
2. Adopt a finding of categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15324 (Class 24 Regulations of Working Conditions) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
Summary
The Executive Pay Plan (EPP) covers the City’s key management staff comprised of Department Directors and other executive level employees who are among the few City staff not represented by a labor union. The EPP was most recently updated for a threeyear term from July 1, 2022- June 30, 2025. The EPP recognizes the contributions of these executive level unrepresented employees while promoting and providing harmonious relations, cooperation, and understanding between the City and the EPP participants. The City Manager proposes a revision to the EPP to allow for relocation assistance to new employees covered under the Plan for the purpose of improving recruitment efficacy.
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Discussion
The Executive Pay Plan (EPP) establishes terms and conditions of employment for Department Directors and other at-will employees who receive EPP benefits as part of their separate employment contracts. While there is a current expiration date of the current plan, and amendments typically occur as changes are made to negotiated agreements with other employee bargaining units, terms of the EPP may also be amended as needed.
The overall policy of the City has been to maintain competitive benefits and working conditions in a high-cost geographic labor market to retain and attract a high-quality workforce to serve our community across a wide range of specialized services. One area of executive-level benefits which can improve the City’s competitiveness in the labor market, and which is not currently offered, is relocation assistance. In order to improve the City’s ability to attract highly qualified candidates from outside the region, staff recommends adding a one-time relocation benefit of up to $15,000 for EPP employees new to the City. This reimbursement would be based on a candidate’s need to relocate to the Los Angeles area and include items such as typical moving expenses, temporary housing and travel costs.
Environmental Review
The benefit changes provided are categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15324 (Class 24 Regulations of Working Conditions) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. Class 24 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies to regulate employee wages, hours of work, or working conditions where there will be no demonstrable physical changes outside the place of work.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The estimated cost of the changes contained in the Executive Pay Plan presented in this report are dependent upon where candidates currently reside. In consideration of the known and anticipated executive-level recruitments to be administered this current fiscal year, the amount may be up to $45,000. No budget action is required at this time. 3 of 3
The costs associated with this one-time relocation benefit would be absorbed by the corresponding department’s current Fiscal Year 2023-25 Budget.
Prepared By: Sarah Rebensdorf, Senior Human Resources Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. HR-Res-EPP-10-24-23