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Alpine workshop moves to revise employee handbook, weighs bigger certification and on-call pay
Summary
City of Alpine councilors and staff reviewed a consultant-drafted employee handbook at a 4 p.m. workshop, focusing on restoring department certification lists, reconsidering certification incentive pay and debating higher on-call rates and SCADA staffing and training. Staff will update the draft and return it for further council direction.
At 4:00 p.m., the City of Alpine City Council convened a workshop to review a revised draft of the employee personnel policies and procedures handbook and to provide direction on certification incentives, on-call compensation and utility staffing.
City Manager (S2) told the council the city retained ETC Institute to review the existing handbook and recommend updates. "The attached draft reflects proposed revisions and comments provided through that review process," S2 said, noting the city attorney also provided guidance and that the draft is intended to be returned to council for formal consideration after council direction.
Why it matters: councilors said incentive pay and clearer certification lists affect recruitment and retention for highly licensed positions such as water/wastewater operators, building inspectors and CDL drivers. Restoring or clarifying which certifications qualify for incentive pay could change pay for front-line public-works staff and affect overtime and training costs.
Certification incentives and department lists
Members flagged that several department-specific licenses and certifications that appeared in the 2018 handbook were not present in the current draft. Council member (S3) pointed out the certificate-pay policy history and the desire to restore relevant entries. "We passed" the prior certificate pay policy and staff should pull those standards into the new draft, S3 said, urging the handbook to list current licensing (for example, registered code enforcement officer, certified building official and plumbing inspector) and to align with ICC requirements where inspection authority is involved.
City Manager (S2) and staff agreed to collect current lists from directors and fold them into the draft. Councilors asked directors to return a consolidated list of required licenses and suggested incentive levels so staff could prepare a comp analysis and recommended incentive amounts.
On-call pay and CDL concerns
The workshop reviewed a proposal to increase daily on-call pay for utilities. "For primary on-call, proposing 50; it's currently 25. And then for secondary on-call, it's currently 11; he's proposing 25," City Manager (S2) said. Utility staff and councilors debated alternatives, including a flat rate for SCADA monitoring rather than hourly checks, to avoid large overtime accrual from frequent checks.
Council member (S6) emphasized the rising cost to obtain some licenses and the recruitment pressures that follow. "It actually costs almost $6,000 now to get a CDL," S6 said, arguing the city must weigh whether to pay certification incentives to employees who hold licenses they rarely use, or to tie pay to demonstrated operational need.
SCADA operations, staffing and training
Utility staff (S8) described the town's SCADA coverage and an immediate staffing gap: two staff routinely manage SCADA with one licensed operator and another employee awaiting endorsement from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). S8 said automation and alarms reduce the need for constant monitoring but overnight and weekend on-call duties still create large overtime. "We get calls at night... you have roughly, I don't know, 30 or 40 minutes to address it before it overfills," S8 said, explaining why the team is seeking a combination of training, increased certification capacity and modest pay incentives for SCADA operators.
S8 proposed in-house SCADA training and incremental certification incentives to build redundancy, and staff estimated three licensed operators could be realistic in the coming months if training and endorsements proceed.
Other policy points
Councilors discussed the catastrophic sick-pool and whether offering short-term or long-term disability insurance might reduce strain on the pool; staff said disability insurance could replace part of pay (commonly about two-thirds) and reduce long-term taxpayer exposure. The draft's drug-free workplace provisions (random or post-accident testing and a range of disciplinary outcomes) were also reviewed; staff noted CDL drivers remain subject to mandatory testing under federal rules.
Pesticide application and mosquito control came up as operational items for parks and public works, with councilors asking staff to identify which departments should hold spraying licenses and whether training and small pay differentials are appropriate.
Next steps
City Manager (S2) said staff will update the draft with the changes discussed, collect license lists from department directors and return the revised handbook for follow-up. "I'll update with the changes, and then I'll get his input and bring that back," S2 said. The council directed utility directors to meet with the city manager to produce the consolidated lists and suggested incentive levels.
The workshop provided council direction but did not include formal votes; staff will bring a revised handbook forward for formal consideration at a future meeting.
