By June Bigsby
POMPANO BEACH — At a special Dec. 16 meeting, Pompano City Commissioners voted to approve a wage increase for its general employees, delaying a holiday payout.
The meeting comes at the tails of a Dec. 10 Pompano Beach city commission meeting, where a proposal to increase wages for Pompano Beach’s general employees was denied. The move denied raises for the city’s more than 500 employees right before the holiday season.
The special meeting on Dec. 16, 1 p.m., allowed the city to move forward with the raises, but city officials say that employees may not receive their increases in time for the holidays.
Prior to the special meeting, Mayor Rex Hardin expressed his concerns on social media.
“These financial shenanigans have got to stop,” he said. “We have a city to run… there are serious financial consequences for the residents and taxpayers of this city.”
District 1 Commissioner Audrey Fesik responded to Hardin’s comments on social media, calling them offensive. She explained that she voted “no” on the employee raises as she felt the $6 million contract did not include enough back up information.
At the Dec. 10 commission’s second reading of a labor agreement, the commission voted to not move forward with an agreement that included up to a four-percent merit-based increase and an extra paid holiday for the city’s employees.
Vice Mayor Alison Fournier, newly elected Commissioner Audrey Fesik and 20-year-veteran Beverly Perkins voted against the employee raises after a discussion about the city’s four-day work week.
Fournier referenced the four-day work week and a delay in building inspections. “We’ve got to figure out a way to do better for people with their building department needs. With this work schedule the city has and the number of four-day weekends the city has, the people are not happy.”
According to the city, the building department has been issuing customer satisfaction surveys since 2020 and .5 percent of the 8,000 completed surveys mention the four-day work week.
Fournier says she receives many complaints from residents on the issue. The City Manager explained that this was not the agenda item to discuss the four-day work week.
Commissioners Rhonda Eaton, Darlene Smith, and Mayor Rex Hardin voted in favor of the labor agreement and employee raises. The vote was three to three.
“It’s an impasse with the union and all city employees,” said Mark Berman, City Attorney. “It’s never happened before.”
Mayor Rex Hardin asked Fournier to clarify her vote. “You’re voting against the union contract because of the four-day work week for the city?”
City Manager Greg Harrison added, “The four-day work week is not part of this, it is not germane to this item.”
Berman added that this vote came as a surprise and at the “worst possible time of year… during the holidays where many people have financial expectations.”
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