BLOOMINGTON - A proposed survey of city of Bloomington employees likely will be conducted but not until after departmental changes caused by the early retirement program are completed.

The unions representing the city's police officers and firefighters requested the city conduct an employee satisfaction study.

Steve Wunder, a survey expert from State Farm Insurance Cos., told the Bloomington City Council the worst time to conduct an employee satisfaction survey is during a period of change or transition.

"You can't wait for things to quiet down completely because that is not going to happen," Wunder said. "Buy-outs are a bad time to do this and also during a hurricane."

Wunder and Andrew Matthews, a survey expert from Illinois State University, spoke to the council at its work session on Monday.

The city has offered an early retirement package to employees who are 50 years and older with 20 years of service. Among the city officials taking the retirement package is City Manager Tom Hamilton.

The city will get a new city manager likely in January and the retirement package offer ends in April. Several aldermen said they were in favor of doing the study but would like to wait until next year to do it.

Mayor Steve Stockton said waiting until next year to conduct the survey would be a good way to establish a bench-mark for the council to gauge the new city manager's performance in future years.