Marquise Vasquez, Waukesha’s human resources director, told the finance committee the department completed an employee engagement survey with about 50% response and will work with department heads to develop action plans by the second quarter of 2026.

Vasquez said HR is conducting an internal portion of a compensation study and expects to complete half of the job-description reviews this year and the remainder in 2026. HR also developed onboarding tools — a first-week checklist plus 30-day and 90-day follow-up — and plans a Leadership Academy for supervisors, managers and directors to be rolled out in 2026.

Vasquez said the city has switched its employee health plan vendor to Sentivo and that employees must actively enroll in the new plan during open enrollment; she said the department will seek 100% participation so covered employees do not lose benefits. She also explained a notable operating increase this year tied to professional services for contract negotiations and arbitration work for labor relations.

Separately, Finance staff and the city administrator confirmed a $100,000 placeholder in the HR/labor-relations budget to cover potential outside-attorney fees for police union negotiations or arbitration if those steps become necessary; City Administrator Tony Brown said such proceedings can be expensive and that prior arbitration cost roughly $35,000.