Article Contributed on: 11/30/2007 10:34:43 PM
Castle Rock is a small community, but it's obviously growing fast. One of the challenges that comes with that growth is the need to expand the size of the town's staff, and keep the talented public employees we already have, in order to meet the increasing demand for services.
Unfortunately, the Town generally experiences a vacancy rate of 6 to 12 percent at any given time. Lately, it has seemed to me that our town staff has lost some much-needed and highly productive members of its team. Since I was elected to the Council last spring, we have seen our development services director, finance department head, budget director, and several other senior staffers in a variety of departments leave.
Part of the problem, I think, is that Castle Rock employees don't have the opportunity to participate in the state's public employee retirement system, PERA. Instead, unlike other communities that do offer that benefit, our staff members can set aside money for retirement only through a defined-contribution 401(k) program.
It would be difficult to solve that problem, as only the General Assembly could authorize new public entity entrants into PERA. And it's not the only problem. Since town employees aren't given the choice of contributing to a public pension plan, they have to pay into social security like private sector workers do. The problem with that is that workers in neighboring communities that do participate in PERA don't have to put money into social security, and neither do their employers.
But it seems to me that we can do some things to make Castle Rock a more attractive place to work and to stay once a person is an employee at Town Hall. It may not be a particularly important factor for senior-level management, but I believe rank-and-file staff members would greatly appreciate one or two more paid holidays each year.
For example, I see no reason why the town government should be open for business on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Most local governments in Colorado, and certainly the state government and federal agencies, are closed that day. Few people can be expected to conduct business with a local government office on the day after Thanksgiving, anyway. Most likely, they're spending time with family and friends or shopping.
Moreover, if Independence Day falls on a Thursday in any year then it seems to me that the taxpayers could save a lot of money if Town Hall was closed down on the Friday immediately following. I would venture to say that most people consider the Fourth of July, if it falls on a Thursday, to be the start of a four-day weekend and that, as with the Friday after Thanksgiving, there is little traffic in government offices that day.
Of course, we'd have to keep the police and the fire department on duty, and that might involve paying officers holiday pay (which is more expensive than ordinary duty pay), but I'd be willing to bet the taxpayers still come out ahead.
I am considering proposing a measure that would mandate that town staff be given the Friday after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday and that, if Independence Day is on a Thursday in any year, that the next day be a paid holiday as well. But I am not sure whether public employees agree that this would be a perk of sufficient value to convince them to stay in Castle Rock and I'm not sure whether the public agrees that we should do this to try to keep our dedicated public servants.
Please share your point of view with me. I'm interested in your opinion and I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what it is.