Page last updated on January 11, 2023 at 9:31 am
Each week, Mayor Hamilton, Deputy Mayor Carmichael, and other city employees provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives. Access all of the weekly video updates at bloomington.in.gov/videoupdates.
Join Mayor John Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael as they discuss new city employee benefits in 2023, including two new pilot programs.
The new pilot programs include six weeks of paid parental leave and paid Commercial Driver’s License training.
In addition to the City’s ongoing benefits program, this year will incorporate significant overall increases in employee wages, benefits, and bonuses, including a new progressive matching retirement program and a new health clinic for employees and their families.
Learn more at: https://bton.in/s1ptA
People interested in employment with the City of Bloomington may visit the career portal at bloomington.in.gov/jobs. Please contact hrmail@bloomington.in.gov for more information or with questions.
Transcript
Mayor John Hamilton:
Hi, I'm Mayor John Hamilton.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
And I'm Deputy Mayor, Mary Catherine Carmichael.
Mayor John Hamilton:
Deputy Mayor, congratulations.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Thank you very much.
Mayor John Hamilton:
New job, appreciate your service.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Well, thank you for appointing me, Mr. Mayor. I'm very grateful for the opportunity.
Mayor John Hamilton:
Yeah.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Well, Mayor Hamilton and I are together today to talk about some exciting new developments in employee benefits. We've got a couple of new programs for new employees or existing employees for that matter. And then we're going to talk just a little bit about the existing benefits that we have. So, why does it even matter? Why are we bothering?
Mayor John Hamilton:
It's a hard time for employees, and it's a hard time for us. Any employer knows that. Making sure we do all we can to keep the employees that we have. They're a precious asset to our city. They provide all the services that so many people depend upon. So the two new things that we're piloting are really something we are really excited about. First is paid parental leave. We haven't had that for a long time. Of course, we don't have it at the state level or the national level, so we are putting a pilot in for six weeks of paid parental leave at 100% of your salary. You can pick any time in the 12 months after you have a child, adopt a child, or foster a child. And so we're going to see how that works, and we're really excited about that.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
So one parent could take the first whatever amount of time they get off at their job, and then you could layer that to allow them more home time at home.
Mayor John Hamilton:
More time. And our employees get that 100% paid in six weeks. It's the same with Family Medical Leave Act time. The second thing is commercial driver's licenses. So, it's really hard to hire people who will drive the big rigs, the big trucks, and we have a lot of those kinds of drivers and positions in several departments. And so, we've decided we're going to pay for the CDL, Commercial Driver's License training, which, up to $5,500, so it's not cheap to get that training.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
I can say that would be a barrier for someone though who's willing to do the work and would like to do the work but just can't afford the training. So we're taking that barrier away.
Mayor John Hamilton:
We're saying, "Come on in. If you're otherwise qualified for the job, we'll pay for the training. Now, you have to stay with us for two years. If you leave early, you got to pay back pro rata what we paid for, but we hope you'll stay a long time." So those are two new things we're really excited about that really add to a whole bunch of other stuff that we're going to try to keep employees.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
So we do have other things we're doing on an ongoing basis, but I know one new thing that's being added is a $1,000 bonus.
Mayor John Hamilton:
So in 2023, and I want to thank the City Council for their support for all this, every employee is getting a $1,000 bonus for the year, paid $500 twice. Police are a little separate, and I'll talk about them in a minute. But every employee's getting a 5% raise, which is a big deal. And also, we're adding a couple of other things. We're adding a new retirement match. So, you can get up to about $800 cash into your retirement account, two-to-one, three-to-one match if you put money in. We're also doubling the health savings account match to put another $2,000-plus into that. So, we're just trying to help employees be supported and be helped for them and their families, so we can keep them and attract more.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Yeah, and then maximize our dollars. Everybody's trying to figure out how to stretch a dollar, and I think this is going to be really helpful along those lines. I think the City of Bloomington has been known as a great employer for a long time, but I think this really brings us just up that next notch. And there's a good reason for it. It saves us money, it saves the taxpayer money in the long run.
Mayor John Hamilton:
It does. It helps a lot to keep people and not have turnover. Let me just mention public safety, too, because we're doing some special things about public safety. Police officers actually are getting a $5,000-a-year raise, all of them, in 2023, implementing that. And, for police and fire, we're doing some really important housing assistance because we want our first responders to be able to live in the city. $750 a month rental assistance if you live in the city, or $18,000 down payment assistance for buying a home, police officer or a firefighter. So, we're doing all we can, we're going to keep working on this. I want to thank you for your involvement in this, thank the City Council. And we are so proud of our city employees, we want to help them and their families, and do everything we can.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Yeah. And if you're looking for employment, don't forget to consider the City of Bloomington, we always have vacancies, or almost always, I think.
Mayor John Hamilton:
Yeah.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
So please go to bloomington.in.gov and navigate that website, and you can find your way to our current vacancies. Thank you so much, Mayor, and thank you for joining us.