Grovetown’s City Council made the unanimous decision to raise the minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour in mid-June. Mayor Gary Jones said that feedback has been overwhelmingly positive since then.
“It affected about 30 employees that were below the $15/hour rate, most of which were street department people,” Jones said. “So, they’re happy, and we’ve had an influx of applications come in as well.”
Jones said keeping existing employees happy is just as important as attracting new ones. Keeping trained employees present and satisfied was a big focus for the council.
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“We’ve had some people wanting to leave and work at Amazon, and we needed to step up and be a competitor,” Jones said. “We’ve filled quite a few of our empty positions, like the street and water department. They’ve probably interviewed 20 people in the last week. It’s definitely made an impact.”
The mayor said he hopes the reputation of the city will continue to be a draw for applicants.
“We’re transparent in everything we do. We take care of our employees, and we give them Christmas bonuses, ample time off and we are family-oriented,” Jones said.
Filling vacancies in the police department was crucial for the council.
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“We implemented a $3,000 signing bonus for our police department. And that’s not just because of competition throughout the city,” Jones said. “It’s today’s society and the negativity that surrounds the profession of law enforcement. It’s not as attractive as it was before, and we needed to do something to make it more attractive.”
Jones speaks from experience as he is a 30-year veteran of law enforcement.
In Columbia County, county officials voted to raise the minimum wage for county employees to $15 an hour in mid-June, and it took effect on July 1. Each county employee that was making more than $15/hour received a pay bump as well.
With Columbia County employing more than 1,300 people, that is a substantial development.
For more information on jobs in the City of Grovetown, visit https://cityofgrovetown.com/jobs.aspx
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com.
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