CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – During the latest Clarksville City Council meeting, a passionate debate was held regarding a potential pay study to find out how local salaries for firefighters compare to similar and nearby communities.

Going into the meeting, the city Public Safety Committee recommended a pay study. However, the city Finance Committee recommended disapproval.

Councilperson Joe Shakeenab served as the sponsor, and he said there have already been good discussions on the subject. “My whole point behind this is to start the conversation,” he said. “If there is any type of pay increase for CPD and CFR in the future, what does it look like?

“Who knows where the city will be in five years or 10 years, none of us here can predict that. … I think it’s just a good thing to have that conversation,” Shakeenab said.

Being honest about ‘the real cost of governing’

Councilperson Brian Zacharias raised some concerns, saying the pay study would account for one quarter of the Human Resources Department’s budget.

Zacharias said that back in June, the council told department heads they couldn’t have the budgets they said were necessary because the council didn’t want to raise taxes. “To save a penny (in the property tax rate), we put a fire truck on a 20-year note; we stepped back from the Frosty Morn commitment to save a few more pennies; we voted down a budget that would have created the law enforcement authorizations that our Chief of Police said that he needed, because it would have required a tax increase.

“Since then, we had a chance to free Parks and Recreation from providing services to current and former council members at no charge for life, and we chose not to. Now we’re considering a resolution directing Human Resources to spend money we did not fund.”

Zacharias said to put a scale on it, the last pay study cost HR $64,000. “HR’s operating budget, approved by us, is $271,726,” he said. “The price hasn’t changed in four years; this resolution would devote a quarter of HR’s annual operating budget to that study alone.”

He said a funded study is only the first step, and if they assume it does come back and says they’re missing the mark, they’d still have to raise the funds to implement the results.

“Pull up the city budgets for Chattanooga and Murfreesboro, compare Dickson’s per capita spend with ours,” Zacharias said. “When you do, it becomes very clear why we have not been able to keep pace with employee salaries. If we believe a pay study is essential, we should do the responsible thing is to acknowledge the cost and fund it properly.

“This isn’t about whether police and fire deserve fair, competitive pay; they absolutely do. It’s about this council being honest with ourselves and with the public, about the real cost of governing.”

Discussion over possible internal study

Councilperson Tim Chandler said he doesn’t see why the city’s HR department can’t conduct the pay study themselves. He also said he has been called out for being anti-firefighter but he said nothing could be farther from the truth.

“My son is a firefighter; my brother’s a firefighter; my nephew is a firefighter,” he said. “That’s not why I’m here speaking on behalf of them. … We talk about bringing our law enforcement and fire department into the modern day. Well folks, you have to have somebody that operates that $1 million equipment.

“I don’t see why we can’t put our heads together and come up with a solution that gives everybody a fair shake,” he said.

Councilperson Stacey Streetman said that time gets in the way of the city’s HR department being able to accomplish such a pay study themselves. She also said there are a lot more variables in play with the study, including the comparison of benefits and requirements of the positions.

“There is so much that is entailed in a pay study to analyze where we really are so you can truly compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges,” Streetman said

Councilperson Jimmy Brown pointed out that another resource at the city’s disposal is the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS). “They get all of this data from the entire state, the ones that contribute to it,” Brown said. “MTAS has some of this information available from the communities that contribute. So, that’s just another resource that we have that really doesn’t cost anything.”

‘Frankly, we’ve all be insulted by what’s being posted’

Mayor Joe Pitts said there has been plenty of discussion on this issue and added that social media can be an unreliable source of information.

“Frankly, we’ve all be insulted by what’s being posted out there and remarks being made. The memes, I haven’t seen all of them … but that’s why the Internet is not the reliable source of information that we want to use,” Pitts said. “But there has been plenty of conversation, and there will continue to be plenty of conversation about this.”

Councilperson Wanda Smith said firefighters have received raises in years past, but it’s also not like the council is trying to overlook them. “It’s not that we don’t want to help our firefighters,” she said. “But you can’t just always think that you should get a pay raise just because, you know, you work for the city. The city has to set a budget that balances.

“Sometimes there are times that you can’t get a pay raise. There are people out there who are working today that do not get pay raises,” Smith said.

She said she believes a $64,000 pay study is too much. “When I look at all the money we wasted on Frosty Morn … money we probably could have put back into the budget to help do a pay raise. But we waste too much money, and a pay study for $64,000 – a waste of money,” Smith said.

‘This is a good conversation’

While introducing his resolution, Shakeenab said that there had already been good discussions regarding the subject, and the results of Thursday’s meeting was another testament to that.

“This is a good conversation,” he said. “I am enjoying this, this is good stuff. We’re just going to continue it next week, I guess.”

The Clarksville City Council will meet for their regular session on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 6 p.m.

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