The three county commissioners gave Young a formal performance review and he received a 303 out of a possible 325 points on the evaluation scale. He received top scores for problem solving, multi-tasking, goal consideration in decision making, efficiency, communications skills, quality service, and “consistently makes clear, transparent, timely decisions which align with organizational and department goals” among other attributes.
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Young is grouped among all other employees as part of the performance pay program for employees under the commissioners’ direct control, but Human Resources Director Jim Davis said they have debated whether the administrator should be treated differently.
“He’s just in a unique position, top guy, serving at the will of the board,” Davis said. “That market for those salaries is really kind of driven by a different dynamic than what’s going on for all the rest of us.”
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Last year Young received a 2.5 percent pay raise, and in 2015 the commissioners gave him a $20,000 increase, after his “probationary” period was satisfied.
The county commissioners have been developing a performance pay model for their employees over the past several years and for this year approved a two-percent pool of money to dole out a combination of percentage raises to employees’ base pay and one-time performance incentives.
The county plans to spend just shy of $2 million this year rewarding non-union staff. Employees could receive up to three percent added to their base pay and up to four percent in lump sum incentive payments paid quarterly.
Commissioner Don Dixon said he is well pleased with Young’s performance, but as for giving him the top of the scale pay increases, he said in his mind “it’s pretty hard to be perfect.”
“For me for somebody to get a four you’d have to be super, super outstanding,” he said. “I think we had one last year maybe two out of a couple thousand (employees) and that seems about right to me. But the way I look at our offices, the commissioner’s office everyday evaluation, I think all the time we can all do better.”
Commissioner T.C. Rogers said the 2 percent increase to Young’s base pay is consistent with what the commissioners have asked other office holders to adhere to and he believes Young handles his position very well.
“We appreciate the job he is doing and he has established a good rapport with the office holders,” Rogers said. “Also he has been able to maintain the operation of our office and he has run interference on a lot of the problems that the commissioners did not have to deal with directly.”
Young will be getting help soon in handling the 600-plus employees under the commissioners’ direct control and all the various other offices that encompass the county. The commissioners are hiring a new assistant administrator and interviews should start soon.
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A total of 233 people applied for the job but more than half seem to have misunderstood the job posting. Davis said he has whittled the number of people down to 10 candidates he believes have the proper credentials, but the commissioners will have the ultimate say in who is interviewed and eventually hired.
“We did have a lot that I think mistook the position for something else…,” Young said of the candidate pool. “But there are some very impressive people who have applied for this position.”
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