saust@gctelegram.com

It's been six years since Finney County last studied how the wages it pays employees compete with other public entities.

During Monday's Finney County Commission meeting, Darlene Lucas, human resources coordinator, will ask the commission to send out a request for proposals to perform a new wage study.

"Six years is a pretty lengthy time," Lucas said. "Many times when it goes on that long, we become less competitive and recruitment becomes more difficult."

Lucas said a request for proposal will cost nothing. She is only asking permission from the commission to ask vendors to tell the county how much they would charge to conduct a study. The county will be under no obligation to choose a vendor or spend money on a study.

"Prices are all over the board as to what one costs," Lucas said. "This is more to let the commission know I'd like to (have a wage study done). They may not be interested, but I'm hopeful."

Lucas said a study, if the commission does approve one, would compare Finney County's wages to similar counties or city governments.

"We don't look at the private sector because it's generally going to have higher pay than the public sector," she said. "There's all kinds of analysis that go into it, but submitting the RFP is just the beginning of it."

In other business, the commission will hear an insurance review from Doug Keller and Diane Rose of Keller Leopold Insurance Agency and will review county health insurance rates; review the county's legislative policy and hear a report about a revised commission meeting policy; review an amended budget for Sewer District No. 2; and hear a planning and zoning report.

The county commission meets at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Finney County Administrative Center, 311 N. Ninth St.