Mayor (name not specified in transcript) told the Policies and Procedures Committee that the borough has been unable to fill the senior landfill position because the boroughpay range is below offers from outside employers.

"It's not going well. We've had a couple of finalists that no one qualified in state, in my opinion," the Mayor said, adding that candidates turned down offers because "we're competing with departments in the lower 48 that are 25 to 35% higher in their pay." He added, "There's no doubt that salaries have a delta that's, an issue."

The mayor said the administration shifted existing duties and created a new operations manager position for solid waste, and is contracting out some environmental work. "We actually shifted the title of a position so we're contracting our environmental work now and created ... an operations manager at solid waste. That will be kind of an in between. It also allows us to build some bench strength so we're not in this position again," he said. The mayor said the borough has a prime candidate for the operations-manager posting but will keep the recruitment open while it evaluates additional applicants.

Committee members raised whether broader director-level pay will be a recurring issue as inflation and private-industry pay differentials push candidates away. The mayor said locally there are industries that pay "far more" and that the borough must consider competitiveness going forward. He also said current directors are "thrilled with what they earn" and some would not seek raises.

No formal action or vote on pay adjustments was taken during the committee meeting; the discussion focused on recruitment strategy, the new operations-manager role, contracting for environmental work, and continued efforts to fill the leadership vacancy.