Link to Agenda for Monday's meeting.
The Joplin City Council held its second work session regarding salary increases for city employees Monday night. KRPS's Fred Fletcher-Fierro has this preview.
Two weeks ago, the council's first special work session lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes, resulting in one council member agreeing with the pay increases brought forth by city staff, Mayor Doug Lawson.
He said the city's tax income projections for the coming years were conservative, likely due to the recent 3% passage of recreational marijuana in both Joplin and Jasper County.
Council member Christina Williams took a more moderate stance reminding fellow members and the public how the city got into this position in the first place.
"I was just thinking back to a couple of years ago, we were asked to approve the across-the-board nine percent raise, and it was very uncomfortable for us to do that because we knew we needed to go through this internal equity process and we kind of gave you that charge.
It's like, okay, we'll approve this across-the-board raise now, but we know we've got to go through the work to fix this."
One recommendation of the city's plan is to implement starting wages of $15 per hour.
After another 90 minutes of discussions Monday night there was no resolution to a proposed wage increase plan.
For 89 9 KRPS News; I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro.