COEUR d'ALENE - Following a two-year review by a group of Kootenai County representatives, the county commissioners approved dropping the grades of 117 county positions last month, and raising the grade of 50 others.

The three officials' next step will be determining whether the different grades warrant changes in pay for those positions, said Commissioner Todd Tondee.

"We haven't adjusted anybody's pay yet. We're just halfway through the process," Tondee said. "From the employees' side, if they get downgraded, we're not saying they're not worth what they're doing. We're just trying to put them within a fair rating within our system."

The grade changes are the result of a complex review process by a position review board, comprised of appointed representatives from each county department. During the review, which lasted from March, 2009 to a few months ago, the group rated each of the 246 positions in all the county's departments.

There are about 700 employees in the county, but many have the same position title, like sheriff deputies, secretaries, planners, etc.

Department heads had requested an internal review after the Hay Group consulting firm conducted one in 2005, Tondee said.

"The electeds at the time, they didn't feel the Hay system took in the uniqueness of the county," Tondee said. "They wanted to have an internal county committee review those."

As a result of the review, according to a memo the commissioners sent to all county employees earlier this month, 99 positions were decreased by one grade, and 18 positions dropped by two grades. Fifty increased by one grade, and 79 stayed the same.

A job grade is a mechanism to fairly rate positions for various purposes like compensation, Tondee said.

Jobs are graded on an established point system, he said. Points are assigned to aspects of a job description like know-how, problem solving, accountability and working conditions. Also considered are what is required to do the job, necessary education and who the employee answers to, he said.

"This has nothing to do with employee performance or what we think of our employees," Tondee said.

County Finance Director David McDowell, who was on the review board, said he can't explain why so many positions dropped grades in the county's review from the Hay rating, since the county wasn't involved in the consulting firm's review.

"There were just lots of different circumstances that were looked at," McDowell said. "We used the prescribed rating system from the Hay Group to evaluate each one of those job descriptions."

The committee members, whose findings the commissioners officially adopted on Dec. 7, is now developing an appeal process for elected officials who believe a position has been rated incorrectly.

County Clerk Cliff Hayes said he plans to appeal over some position changes in his department.

"When I argue for some of my people against the changes, whether that be up or down, I think I'll be listened to," he said. "Whether I'll be agreed with is a different story."

Hayes hasn't heard any complaints from employees, he said, but they haven't yet been given all the information about the new grades.

A draft policy is being developed on the procedures for future reclassification requests, according to the memo.

Tondee couldn't say how quickly the commissioners will decide on pay grade changes.

"We've made a change, and we need to act on it pretty quickly," he said. "There are a lot of people out there not understanding what it means, and what it's going to do to their pay."