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Council narrows comparable cities for classification and pay study after extended Q&A
Summary
After an MGT presentation on process and methodology, the Oskaloosa City Council debated which peer cities to include in a market survey and voted to amend MGT’s recommended list — removing several outliers and adding nearby communities and Mahaska County for a broader, defensible benchmark set.
Rachel King of MGT told the Oskaloosa City Council that the classification and compensation study will pair an internal job‑analysis process with an external market survey designed to produce defensible pay grades and implementation cost scenarios.
"When we develop the classification structure, we're looking at equal pay for equal work," King said, explaining the nine job‑factor evaluation and the plan to survey 15–20 comparable agencies based on population, budgets, employee counts, taxable valuation and proximity.
Council discussion focused on how MGT will ensure the market survey compares similar services and duties across municipalities. Councilors raised repeated concerns that some recommended peers on MGT’s spreadsheet — towns with broader municipal services or substantially greater fiscal resources — would skew results. Rachel King said MGT performs data scrubbing, uses survey position summaries and can request job descriptions where matches are uncertain.
After extended debate, a councilor moved to amend the top‑20 peer list recommended by MGT to remove Hayawa, Bondant, Winteret and Independence and to add Newton, Indianola, Atamwa and Carol, and to include Mahaska County and surrounding counties in the market review. The motion passed on a roll‑call vote.
Councilors said the change preserves the study’s methodological foundation while removing obvious outliers; MGT will proceed with the amended peer list and distribute the market survey and job‑analysis questionnaire to participating organizations and city employees. Staff said they expect employee kickoff and JAQ distribution in June and a draft report by late summer with implementation scenarios.
What happens next: MGT will send the market survey to the amended peer list, begin employee JAQs and one‑on‑one follow‑ups, and provide status updates to city leadership. The council did not adopt any compensation changes at the meeting; the study is an informational and analytic step toward potential future action.
