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Clovis City Commission approves review study

CLOVIS — With little discussion, the Clovis city commission on Thursday approved a $25,000 study to give its employee position review and salary study an update after two years in place.

The study, which passed by an 8-0 vote, was anticipated. City Manager Justin Howalt told the commission during an August meeting he planned to bring the study up for another look, and that $50,000 was included in the 2019-20 budget for such purposes.

“I felt it was time to ‘re-look,’” Howalt said, “and make sure we are competitive and that our employees were fairly compensated for the work they do.”

The work with S Resource Inc. will be $24,638, including gross receipts taxes.

The 18-week process, Howalt said, would include three different surveys of city employees to make sure the work people are doing fits in their documented job descriptions and to have similar data when comparing salaries at other municipalities.

Commissioner Sandra Taylor-Sawyer asked how soon the study would begin following the vote, to which Howalt said he would process the purchase order Friday and hopefully start the process within a few days.

District 1 Commissioner David Robinson, who was not on the commission when the 2017 study was incorporated, asked if the item would come back to the commission for discussion. Howalt said any changes in employee compensation would go before the commission and there would be discussion opportunities before that.

In other business:

• Sara Williams, a school liaison for Cannon Air Force Base, presented the commission with a certificate for the role it played in winning the 2019 Pete Taylor Partnership of Excellence Award.

The award, given to the base, the city and Clovis Municipal Schools, is the highest honor the Military Child Education Coalition gives during its annual award ceremony, held in July in Washington, D.C.

The MCEC works toward a vision that every military-connected child is college, workforce and life-ready.

• Clovis Police Chief Doug Ford introduced Det. Haley Levy as distinguished line employee of the quarter. Ford said Levy, who started with the CPD in 2013 in the records department, has proven invaluable in helping to solve recent auto theft cases.

“She’s been a great asset to our department,” Ford said.

Ford also noted that Capt. Roger Dial returned to regular duty after taking time off to fight cancer.

The distinguished supervisor of the quarter was Chris Elam of the Clovis Fire Department.

• The commission reappointed Candace Morrison, Marcus Smith and Thom Moore to the planning and zoning commission.

“Those three individuals are very good, and very dedicated,” said Mayor Pro Tem Juan Garza, who serves as the commission representative on the commission.

• Mayor David Lansford said the New Mexico Bioscience Authority has been in touch with the city of Clovis, and thanked Howalt for responding to the authority via email within 15 minutes of initial contact.

The new state board, Lansford said, is tasked to bring bioscience industries into the state.

“There’s just a major market in bioscience,” Lansford said, “and I think we need to embrace it.”

It is not currently listed on the authority’s website (nmbioscience.com), but Lansford said an Oct. 10 meeting is planned and commissioners will have an opportunity to participate via online conferencing.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Oct. 3 at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library.