Sep. 12—A $2 hourly increase for the roughly 40 Beckley Board of Public Works employees was approved Tuesday night in a unanimous vote by the Beckley Common Council during its regular meeting.
Public Works employees, who spoke during the meeting, said they appreciate the raise but believe it should just be a start.
The $2 hourly raise will equate to an overall salary increase of $4,160 for each Public Works employee.
The pay hike comes a month after council approved $8,000 across-the-board annual raises for all sworn officers with the Beckley Police Department.
In a break from the normal order of council's agenda, Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold chose to allow public comment on the proposed Public Works raise increase before council voted on the matter.
Public comment is typically the last item on council's agenda and is followed by adjournment.
Dustin Potter, a Public Works employee who has spoken at the last three council meetings regarding raises for his coworkers, said he felt torn about the proposed raises.
"I'm not 100 percent sure where I stand," Potter said. "... that's something I'm fine with if the $4,000 is a start."
James Watkins, a supervisor in the Public Works maintenance department, told council members that while he was disappointed that Public Works was not given the same $8,000 raise that Beckley police were given, he was appreciative that council took up the pay raise issue for his department in the first place.
In an interview with The Register-Herald after the meeting, Watkins said he had his doubts that these discussions were going to lead to any type of raises for Public Works.
"I wanted the $8,000 raise. I really didn't think they'd give it to us. I really didn't think they'd give us the $4,000 raise, but I'm grateful for what they gave us," Watkins said. "I hope that in turn, they continue to follow suit without us having to come up here and argue with them."
After allowing public comment on the proposed Public Works pay raises, the public was able to hear from council members and the mayor for the first time regarding the specifics of this proposal.
During the previous council meeting in August, Rappold said he intended to speak with council members one-on-one, outside of regular council meetings, to discuss Public Works raises.
In an interview with The Register-Herald before the meeting, Councilman Cody Reedy said he met with Rappold in the days after the last August meeting.
During those meetings, Reedy said the mayor told him that a $4,000 across-the-board raise for Public Works employees was doable based on savings the city was expecting in decreasing the amount of road salt it planned to purchase for the year.