Consultants recommend major overhaul of Minot pay plan; civil service commission approves draft on first reading

Consultants from Aaron Palmer told the Minot Civil Service Committee on June 17 that a proposed overhaul of the city’s pay plan would pair a newly validated job architecture with market-based salary ranges and career tracks to improve recruitment and retention.

Hannah Hargrave, one of the consultants, said the project paired job classification and benchmarking to create a more consistent, market-aligned structure: “The objective of the work that we have here is to make sure that the structure we're creating is consistent, it's compliant, and it has enough flexibility built within it to make good pay decisions.” Chelsea Hamilton, the firm’s practice leader, explained the technical design: the plan condenses roughly 62 grades into 27 and replaces the old 17-step system with a 13-step structure that staggers midpoint progression from about 8% to 12% and narrows or widens ranges by career stage.

Why it matters: consultants said the changes aim to align pay with the external market while preserving internal equity and career ladders so employees clearly see progression opportunities. In the consultants’ analysis of 453 incumbents and 214 job titles, roughly 81% of employees would fall within the new ranges; the average comp ratio was about 0.97 and average range placement about 41% — close to the market midpoint.

Costs and options: the presentation gave three implementation cost illustrations. Consultants described a compression-remediation scenario (intended to preserve time-in-position and tenure-based placement under Chapter 24) that they estimated at “a little over a million dollars” annually (presented as roughly 3.4% of payroll). A less aggressive “everyone whole to closest step” approach was presented as roughly $641,000; a minimal “bring to minimum” baseline was shown as a smaller illustrative figure in the presentation appendices. The consultants stressed they would not recommend pay cuts for employees who are above the proposed maximum and described a set of non-cut strategies for those cases.

Commission advice and next steps: Kelly, a city staff member who spoke in favor of adoption, recommended the commission adopt the pay plan and resolve compression during implementation: “My recommendation would be to adopt the pay plan and then adopt the pay plan with allowing for compression issues to be resolved.” Commissioners asked about the cost of turnover — consultants and staff estimated turnover-related cost commonly runs from six to 12 months’ salary depending on role complexity — and about the plan’s legal and policy implications for Chapter 24.

Public process and vote: consultants confirmed they will participate in the public comment meeting next week and may present to city council. After public comment and discussion, the civil service commission voted to approve the draft pay plan on first reading; the roll-call vote recorded Scott, Elsie and Miranda as voting yes. The commission emphasized the body’s action is a recommendation to city council and that final adoption will be subject to council review and the budget process.

What to watch next: a public meeting on the draft is scheduled for next Thursday at 9:00 a.m.; the consultants and staff advised employees to review the draft materials posted with the civil service agenda and to bring specific questions to the public comment session.