Wednesday’s meeting of the Clark County Fiscal Court is perfect proof that the county still has much work to do when it comes to fixing its pay classification system.

It is not broken, but it is safe to say that now is the time to focus on improving the new structure before it becomes engrained.

The fiscal court heard requests for step increases for nine employees at the county road department along with two grade and step increases for county firefighters in Wednesday’s meeting. Under the county’s pay plan implemented earlier this year, each job is assigned to a grade, and the steps within each grade amount to longevity increases.

Only three of the 11 requests were granted, with the fiscal court split 4-3 on some motions and 5-2 on others.

Clearly there is much work to be done in clearing up the confusion that appears to range from employees to supervisors to the fiscal court itself.

We challenge the county leaders to resolve this by the end of the year.

The goal should be to get everyone on the same page so the system operates in a very definable and measurable way. If handled properly, there should be little need for debate or deviation.

To make this happen, the first step is for the  fiscal court to get back together with the sole focus on agreeing how the plan will be administered for new and existing employees. The second component will be to make sure all existing employees are classified exactly where they should be.

Getting this issue fully resolved will build the foundation Clark County needs to strengthen its workforce and treat its employees the right way.