September 22, 2017 at 4:18 p.m.
Council votes to eliminate payroll, HR clerk position
Rajnicek assumes duties in addition to administrative assistant role
Council votes to eliminate payroll, HR clerk position
Rajnicek started with the city July 31 as an administrative assistant, replacing Kathy Johnson who retired in May. She has previous experience in a similar position in the city of Muskego. Prior to that, she worked for Gen-Probe in Waukesha in human relations and payroll.
Interim city administrator Keith Kost told the council combining the part-time duties into one position and eliminating the payroll clerk position would save the city "well north of $50,000" in salary and benefits annually.
After consulting with finance director Wendi Bixby (who was promoted out of the payroll clerk position), it was determined the combined position would be an almost even 50/50 split of Rajnicek's time, Kost explained. Under the proposal approved by the council, Rajnicek will be placed at Grade F, Step 1 on the city's wage rate scale, making an annual salary of $36,660.
"So we took half of Wendi's (old) position and Kathy's pay classification and blended that 50 percent," Kost said. "And that is how we came up with that grade and step and hourly wage. So we will not be replacing one person."
Rajnicek said she has been coming to the area her whole life and she and her husband just love the area.
"I have family in Lake Tom, we love it here and my husband and I had planned later in life to retire here," she said.
"Personal things happened in our lives and we said what are we waiting for and we both applied for jobs up here and both got them."
Now that they live in the Northwoods, she is closer to her mom and the rest of her family, she added.
When she first interviewed for the administrative assistant position, the possibility of her also assuming the duties of payroll/human resources clerk was not discussed, she added.
"But I think that after I interviewed with them that maybe they started thinking," Rajnicek said, adding that she really enjoys the job and the people she works with in City Hall.
"I love all the people I work with, it's just been fabulous," she said. "And they've kept me very busy."
She said her position in Muskego also morphed into something different after she had been on the job for a while.
"I started out as payroll, moved into more of an HR/payroll role, and then, as time went on, I was kind of doing the same thing there where half my time was in HR/payroll and the other half of my time I was working with the mayor and city attorney there," she said.
With the city on a bi-weekly pay period, she said she is in the payroll clerk's office three full days a week on payroll weeks.
"On off-payroll weeks, not so much," Rajnicek said. "Just to do changes and what not and if there is a new hire or something. But I think in the overall picture it is pretty much a 50/50 split."
She said one big difference between Rhinelander and Muskego relates to benefits.
"I did more on the benefits side of things down in Muskego where I was working more closely with the employee benefits. Here, they have the companies that service them really service the employees, too," Rajnicek explained, adding that providing administrative assistant services for both Kost and mayor Dick Johns has been "a pleasure." She said Kost is a "very straightforward" man.
"He's very easy to work with, he's down-to-earth," she said. "I feel that he tells you how it is and there is no messing around with what he's telling you. It's just straightforward, honest information. And the mayor is the mayor, he's a good guy."
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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