August 2026 – March 2027 · 8-month engagement, calibrated to the City's FY 2028 budget cycle prep

Activities

• ▸Kickoff with Asst City Manager / HR Director (Beth Fox), City Manager, Finance Director — confirm scope, dedicated personnel, deliverable cadence
• ▸Audit & gap-analyze the 2023 Evergreen Solutions baseline study — what landed, what stuck in CBAs, what was rejected by City Council, what's stale 2.5 years later
• ▸Pull authoritative source data: 223 current job descriptions, FY 2026 Adopted Budget personnel schedule, current pay schedule, FLSA designations, NHRS Group I/II designations per incumbent
• ▸Initial 6-bargaining-unit cross-walk: KPOA, PD Supervisors, Professional Firefighters, FD Supervisors, AFSCME/DPW, Dispatch + 42 non-bargaining
• ▸Schedule department-head briefings (16 departments) and employee briefings (one per BU)
• ▸Stand up secured project folder + portal credentials for HR team

Deliverables

• ◆Kickoff Memo
• ◆Evergreen 2023 Baseline Reconciliation Brief
• ◆Stakeholder Engagement Plan
• ◆Data Intake Schedule
• ◆Project Risk Register v1

Activities

• ▸17 NE peer municipalities surveyed — NH primary (Portsmouth, Concord, Dover, Nashua, Manchester, Lebanon, Claremont, Laconia, Rochester, Berlin, Franklin) plus VT, MA, ME peers (Brattleboro, Burlington, Rutland, Greenfield, Northampton, Bangor, Auburn)
• ▸Each comparator's adopted FY 2026 / 2027 pay schedule pulled (authoritative public records)
• ▸NH PELRB-filed CBAs cross-referenced for confirmed top-step and step-progression rules
• ▸Targeted private-sector benchmark — Cheshire Medical, Keene State College, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Markem-Imaje cluster pull for non-public-sector comparable roles
• ▸NH Local Government Center (LGC) wage data cross-reference for statewide percentile
• ▸Keene-equivalent role mapping (~210+ benchmark matches anticipated; flagged where unique)
• ▸Total compensation benefits comparison: NH HealthTrust vs alternate carriers, NHRS Group I/II/Fire pension cost-of-employment overlay

Deliverables

• ◆Comparator Database (Excel)
• ◆Market Position Report
• ◆Compression Analysis Brief
• ◆Total-Comp Equivalency Memo
• ◆Statewide Percentile Cross-Reference

Activities

• ▸Position-level equity analysis across all 6 bargaining units AND the 42 non-bargaining management/exempt roles
• ▸AI-drafted equity analysis generated for each of 223 classes (using HSG's AI/Expert Reconciliation Methodology)
• ▸Each AI-drafted finding reconciled by Certified Job Evaluator (Gilda Weech-House) against JD, BU contract, NH peer-municipality structures, and DOL O*NET
• ▸Compression and inequity diagnostics — within-BU, cross-BU, and BU vs non-bargaining
• ▸Distinct-classification audit — examples where similar titles do materially different work, handled by sub-classification design
• ▸Public safety total-comp analysis specifically broken out per Addendum #1: Group II Police vs Group II Fire pension overlay, certification differentials, FTO/K9/SRO assignment pay

Deliverables

• ◆Internal Equity Findings Brief
• ◆6-BU Cross-Walk Map
• ◆Compression Remediation Plan
• ◆AI/Expert Reconciliation Log
• ◆Public-Safety Equity Deep-Dive

Activities

• ▸All 223 current JDs reviewed against actual work, FLSA, and BU contract scope
• ▸Reclassification recommendations where appropriate — grade up/down, title alignment, new class creation, retirement of obsolete titles
• ▸Career-ladder & promotional-progression mapping — within each functional family + across BUs
• ▸BU/CBA impact analysis — what reclassifications require negotiated MOU vs administrative implementation
• ▸On-site mid-point review at City Hall (Jelani + Gilda) — work session with HR team to validate before final report
• ▸Department-Head analytic-tier alignment: 12 Department Heads anchored against NH peer-city Manager/Director/Chief ranges

Deliverables

• ◆Recommended Classification Catalog (223 classes)
• ◆Reclassification Action List (tiered: admin / MOU / CBA)
• ◆Career Ladder Map
• ◆On-site Mid-Point Review Memo

Activities

• ▸Pay range design — minimum, midpoint, maximum for each grade across all 6 BUs + non-bargaining management
• ▸Phased vs immediate implementation cost scenarios — modeled per BU and rolled to total City cost
• ▸NHRS Group I (12.83%) / Group II Police (33.88%) / Group II Fire (32.91%) employer cost rollups
• ▸HealthTrust premium-share projection at illustrative + scenario rates
• ▸BU-specific implementation guidance (which BUs need MOU vs which can administer)
• ▸New-hire starting-pay guidelines + step-progression recommendations
• ▸Sustainable framework recommendation — annual market refresh process for HR Director to maintain

Deliverables

• ◆Recommended Pay Schedule v1 (all BUs)
• ◆Cost Impact Model (Excel — phased vs immediate)
• ◆Implementation Roadmap (BU-by-BU)
• ◆Annual Refresh Process Memo

Activities

• ▸Comprehensive final report — full study + each grade and class before/after with reasons
• ▸Salary survey results and methodology fully documented
• ▸Cost modeling for recommended changes (all scenarios)
• ▸Presentation of findings to City Manager + Council in Keene Council Chambers — pre-rehearsed with HR Director (on-site, Jelani + Gilda)
• ▸30-day implementation Q&A window (March – April 2027) — included in firm fixed price
• ▸Final delivery target: March 2027, calibrated to City's FY 2028 budget cycle prep

Deliverables

• ◆Final Report (PDF + DOCX)
• ◆Salary Survey Methodology & Results
• ◆Cost Modeling Workbook
• ◆Council Presentation Deck
• ◆30-Day Implementation Q&A Support