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Council reviews draft incentives for employee grant-seeking, certification pay
Summary
Staff presented draft policies to reward employees who secure competitive grants or obtain job-related professional certifications. Council offered feedback on eligibility, scoring and edge cases and asked staff to return with examples and clarifying language.
City staff proposed two related personnel policies: a grant-incentive policy to reward employees who secure external funding and a differential-pay policy to recognize job-related certifications.
Under the draft grant-incentive proposal, employees who lead successful grant applications (generally for awards above $500) could receive a modest cash award based on a points matrix that weights factors such as competitiveness of the grant, dollar amount awarded, time invested and whether the award is a new funding source for the city. Staff said awards would be paid after execution of the grant contract or reimbursement request. The draft specifically contemplates pre-approval for applications, required documentation of effort and an administrative review to allocate any incentive if multiple employees contributed.
Council feedback and policy questions
Council members supported the idea of incentivizing outside funding but raised several implementation questions: - Eligibility: Should employees whose position duties already include grant writing (or who are contracted consultants) be eligible? Staff suggested such grants would score lower or be excluded when grant-seeking is an incumbent job duty. - Donations: Council favored awarding incentives when an employee proactively solicits or secures donated equipment or services valued above the policy threshold, but not for unsolicited gifts delivered to the city. - Equity and oversight: Members noted some positions have more natural access to grants; staff said a transparent scoring matrix and pre-approval step will help keep the program equitable. - Documentation and timing: Council asked staff to include worked examples showing how the points matrix would apply to prior grants.
On differential pay, staff proposed a formal application process for employees to request a small monthly pay differential after achieving certified, job-related credentials. The proposal would require a department head recommendation, a demonstration of city benefit and identification of recurring maintenance costs (continuing education or recertification) if any.
Next steps
Staff will prepare worked examples applying the scoring matrix to past grants and refine eligibility language to address consultants, employees with grant writing duties, donations and time allocation. Council did not vote on the policies; the item was presented for direction.
