Charles Town personnel committee to publish RFP for citywide salary-and-benefits benchmark study, budgets about $30,000

The Charles Town personnel committee agreed to move forward with a request for proposals for a comprehensive benchmark study of employee salaries and benefits, a staff member said during the meeting.

"We did put money in our capital budget for this year for to cover a benchmark study of, salaries and benefits," the staff member said, and asked the committee whether they wanted staff to publish an RFP and proceed to the next step.

The committee discussed scope and sequencing: the staff member recommended including current job descriptions as part of the submission materials while the chair and other participants said job-title review should come first and that department heads and the incoming city manager would help refine descriptions. Committee members agreed that sworn police classifications should be handled separately and that council and mayor compensation should be treated as a separate line item rather than included in the overall employee totals.

The staff member said the RFP would be advertised for about a month and the city had budgeted roughly $30,000 for the work. "We have budgeted $30,000 more," the staff member said, noting that more comprehensive studies that include benefit comparisons can raise costs and that quotes previously reviewed ranged below and above that figure.

Committee members discussed logistics for delivering job descriptions to prospective contractors and suggested the new city manager and department heads would help finalize the materials the city would provide to bidders. Staff indicated they could publish the draft RFP as early as next week and anticipate a one-month solicitation window.

No formal motion or vote was recorded in the transcript. The committee concluded that staff should publish the RFP and return with contractor recommendations once proposals are received and evaluated.