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072400 sm448 E718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida 4:00 o'clock P.M. in the City Present: The City Commission of the City of Sanford, Florida met in Special Meeting on Monday, July 24, 2000, at Commission Chambers, Sanford City Hall, 300 Noah Park Avenue, Sanford, Florida. Mayor-Commissioner Larry A. Dale Commissioner Whitey Eckstein Commissioner Velma H. Williams Commissioner Brady Lessard Commissioner Randy Jones City Manager Tony VanDerworp City Clerk Janet R. Dougherty Absent: City Attorney William L. Colbert The Chairman called the meeting to order. Mayor Dale reported the purpose of this meeting is to hold a Public Hearing to resolve the Impasse between the FOP and the City of Sanford. The Public Hearing was advertised in the Seminole Herald on July 19, 2000. Mayor Dale reported the City is represented by David Komreich, Esq. and the FOP is represented by John V. Head, Esq. John V. Head, Esq. reported the FOP started bargaining for a new wage proposal in March, 1998. A proposal was not made for an entire year, several items were resolved and the FOP agreed to keep most of the existing items in the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement without change. In the spring/summer of 1999, the FOP declared an Impasse, under PERC's rule, and in June, 1999 the first PERC Hearing was held. At that first PERC Hearing City staff was still not prepared to offer a pay proposal. Normally in the bargaining process both sides conduct surveys in.the surrounding area. When these surveys were completed and compared they were found to be essentially the same, with very small differences, so the mutual agreement was to use the results of the survey done by the City staff. This survey would result in about a 3½% raise for officers, somewhere above that for corporals, and a little bit higher than that for sergeants. This survey was done in 1999 so it is already out of date. Seminole County is giving a 13% pay raise to its deputies and correctional officers,' last year Orange County gave a 5% Cost of Living adjustment in addition to merit raises, and Sheriff Beary has announced a 4% raise for October 1 st of this year. Orange County Corrections had a 9-1/4% increase last year in their Collective Bargaining Agreement. Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary and Casselberry have all either announced raises or have it in the budget to look at raises. Attomey Head reported that the Special Master had recommended a step plan, but the City already has a step plan. The Special Master agreed with the City on some issues, and the FOP on some issues, but did not agree with everybody on any issue. City staff wants to accept those recommendations where the Special Master agreed with their proposals, and reject those where he agreed with the FOP. The Special Master agreed that them ought to be a step plan and that them ought to be raises. Attorney Head believes a new step plan does not need to be created, the existing step plan just needs to be modified. He reported the City needs to keep its officers and not lose them to other agencies because of poor pay or benefits'. The four Articles that have not been agreed to are Article 12: Disciplinary Action; Article 14: Work Week and Overtime; Article 37: Wages; and Article 38: Special Assignment Pay. Many of the Articles that were first disagreed upon have been resolved by the officers agreeing to allow time for the City to present new proposals to improve those areas. What is left is one discipline issue and two economic issues. The discipline issue is that historically in Sanford them is not significant formal discipline for relatively minor traffic incidents. The FOP believes that the discipline should be between the supervisor and the employee, and not be formal, because formal discipline under the Collective Bargaining 2000 E718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida 4':00 F.M. SPECIAL MEETING 449 July 24, Unit prevents that officer, whether he is an officer or a corporal, from sitting for the promotional exam to corporal or sergeant, for up to three years. Attorney Head reported the FOP is recommending a change by City Staff to work week and overtime, and how the officers overtime is calculated. Right now, if an officer takes time off that he has accumulated, and then must work mandatory overtime, they use the overtime as if the time off was actually spent working. That condition is not true for other employees and staff proposed this be changed so it is consistent. The FOP suggests that change is not appropriate. He further reported that Special Assignment Pay was settled with respect to FTO's, but has not been resolved with respect to on-call status. Being on call means an officer is restricted in the activities he can undertake. The FOP recommends a bi-weekly compensation of $20.00 to those officers who are put on on-call status on a regular basis. Attomey Head summarized by reporting the City needs to give the Police personnel a raise now, adjust the existing pay scale, budget for raises for all Police personnel effective October 1 according to the percentages indicated in the Police Pay Survey of May 4, 1999, and not eat up the raises by changing other issues such as the Work Week and Overtime. By following these suggestions the City will be able to retain their officers instead of training them for other entities. David Komreich, Esq. clarified that the Union petitioned for the Special Master Proceedings, the City did not. The Union rejected every aspect of the Special Master' s recommendation, and the City accepted 99% of the Special Master's recommendation. The only thing the City did not accept was the implementation of the old step plan, which does not fit into the framework of the pay ranges that the City developed. However, the City Administration recommended a new step pay plan be developed that is more appropriate for the coming fiscal year. Attomey Komreich reported they would like the Commission to agree to accept the Special Master's recommendation, except for not utilizing the City's old step plan but devising a future step plan for the upcoming year, which will lead to the employees' interests, and the City's interests, to a much greater extent. Attorney Komreich reported that today the Commission needs to make a decision on four issues. The first issue is Disciplinary Action. The Disciplinary Action Order in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement is the Order that was recommended by a previous Special Master and an implementation of a prior Commission. The current Special Master found that the Disciplinary Action has stood the test of time, and there is no reason to change it. Attorney Komreich reported there is no such thing as entitlement to overtime. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which is the Federal law, and the City have a policy that says you don't count family leave or sick leave towards the calculation of overtime. This is true City wide. The Special Master accepted the City's position. The City devised a rather complex Wage program to offset the inequities that appeared within the City and the Police Department, and to be competitive with surrounding jurisdictions. This proposal was costed out and given to the Special Master, and the Special Master approved the proposal and recommended it be accepted. The Special Master did recommend the City keep the old step pay plan. For purposes of funding the 1999/2000 wage increases that have been outlined by Attorney Kornreich, the old step pay plan cannot be used, it just doesn't fit. For the next fiscal year a new step play plan will have to be created because the ranges will have to be adjusted. Attorney Komreich reported the City and the FOP met and agreed to the raise for Special Assignment Pay for Field Training Officers from $1.00 an hour to $1.50 an hour. The Union also asked that additional Specialty Officers (detectives, traffic officers and K-9 officers) also receive Special Assignment Pay of $25.00 per bi-weekly pay period. The 450 E718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida 4: 0.!0'. ~-;t4;'~::'SPECIkL";t'IEP..T/BIG 2000 Special Master said he saw no need for that proposal to be implememed by the City, he ruled that there was no necessity for that recommendation, it simply didn't fit. Attorney Kornreich reported in summary, he concurs with the Special Master' s Report, with the exception of implementing a step pay plan for the current fiscal year, because it does not fit with the overall pay plan which the Special Master approved. He is recommending that a new, more appropriate step pay plan should be implemented for the next fiscal year, which would be beneficial to all concerned. Attorney Kornreich reported there were some employees who did not get the 3% raise that was given in October, 1999, because they were topped out until the pay range moves higher. The Commission discussed the issue of being topped out, and Mayor Dale reported the only way a person who is topped out can get a raise is to be evaluated by his supervisor as a top performer and receive a lump sum merit and bonus. Commissioner Eckstein reported that something has to be done to attract the best officers to Sanford. He asked if it would be prudent for the City to accept the Special Master's recommendations and promise the City's police officers that the City is adjusting the initial salaries to be competitive. Further, any raises should be equitable across the board, not a significant difference between officers and corporals or between corporals and sergeants; and the percentage should not be based solely on the supervisor's evaluation, because sometimes an employee could be an excellent employee and do an above average job, but the supervisor might not like something about him so does not evaluate him as high as another employee who does not do as good a job. Mayor Dale reported the Commission must be careful not to implement a 5% or 6% raise every year, because personnel costs and the associated taxes and benefits that go with them is the biggest burden on the taxpayers. If the City inordinately has a step plan and plugs in nice figures, and a recession occurs, the City would have to implement a RIF and eliminate positions because the money would not be available to pay for the employees' raises. That is one of the reasons everyone cannot be treated the same and get the same percentage of raise. Mayor Dale asked why, when Attorney Head addresses the work week and overtime, he uses twelve hour shifts as a basis. Attorney Head reported the City of Sanford officers work a twelve hour shift on a rotating basis, and that has a big impact on the work week and overtime. If a person is working five days a week, eight hours a day, and he misses one day for vacation, he misses eight hours, and that is the amount of hours he has to make up to qualify for overtime. If that person is working twelve hour shifts and takes a vacation day, he has to work twelve more hours to qualify for overtime. Commissioner Willjams reported it is imperative that the Commission consider that type of pay plan where all employees would receive some type of COLA annually, in addition to having the opportunity to receive bonuses. There may be supervisors who might permit their personal feelings to come into play when they are evaluating people, thereby denying certain persons the opportunity to be top performers, etc. In regard to raises by way of promotion, there are only so many promotions that will occur, which minimizes the opportunity of a large percentage of employees being able to take advantage of those raises by promotion. Mayor Dale reported COLA's do not work because of the fluctuating economy. Commission Willjams reported maybe it should not be called a COLA, but the employees should be guaranteed that they will get some kind of a raise every year, and the Commission can determine what percentage that raise will be for any given year. Mayor Dale reported the recommendations of the Special Master are just recommendations, they are not E718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida_ 4:00 P.M. SPECIAL ,MEETING 451 July 24, it0d00 orders. Today the Commission needs to settle an Impasse that has gone to the Special Master. The Commission has seen the recommendations of the Special Master and it has seen the Administration's proposal and recommendation to analyze the impact issues. Commissioner Eckstein asked if it was true that if the Commission accepts the Impasse, there will be no raises at all. City Manager VanDerworp reported that if the Commission accepts his recommendation it would result in adjustments that have been prorated for the rest of this fiscal year, and it will move the minimum and maximum pay ranges so that in October those employees who are topped out are eligible to move again. He reported if the Impasse is not resolved there will be no pay plan. Commissioner Jones reported the City has quite a bit of money in reserves that could be used to make the adjustments retroactive. Mayor Dale reported the City has those reserves because the City manages its reserves fiscally and responsibly so when there is a downtum it will not have to do a RIF. In the past the reserves were not available. City Manager VanDerworp reported if the adjustments were retroactive the cost would be $78,72 1 as opposed to $12, 111 for the remainder of the year. Commissioner Lessard reported the City sl:ould look at five other municipalities in the area and index how the Police and Fire employees are paid. Even in a bad year, the City cannot cut the Public Safety sector. He reported he can accept the City Manager's 'recommendation for the here and now, but the City Commission must make a commitment to devise a plan that takes market considerations and evaluations into account over the long term. Commissioner Eckstein moved to accept the City Manager' s recommendation to accept the Special Master's recommendations with respect to all contested issues except for the recommendation to retain the "old step plan" for the remainder of FY 1999-2000; implement the City pay proposal for the remainder of this FY 1999-2000 beginning with the first pay period following ratification of the contract at a cost of approximately $12, 111; and agree to consider a FY 2000-2001 pay plan which will revise pay ranges to assist in the recruitment and retention of qualified employees as stated in the budget work session. Seconded by Commissioner Lessard. Commissioner Eckstein reported that retroactivity is not going to bring back the officers who have left. If the Commission rejects the City Manager's recommendation, and gives Mr. Head whatever the Union wants, it is less the employees will get in October. The City Manager's recommendation is the prudent one because the City is going to try to recruit for the future and not try to correct the wrongs of the past. He made a commitment to the Police employees that the Commission is going to make things right. Commissioner Williams reported whatever plan is presented should embrace the philosophy that the City needs to be combetitive as it relates to those policemen it has given adjustments to, in addition to meeting the needs of all the other policemen in the City, keeping in mind that they have also been with the City five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, and they need to be compensated as well. Commissioner Jones reported that he realizes retroactivity is not going to bring back the officers who have left, but how many of the officers who are here now will leave if they do not receive the salary that is proposed for this year? The City needs to keep the officers it has fight now. Mayor Dale reported that anybody who has employees is having a problem with retention of those employees. Commissioner Jones asked if it worth losing officers over $66,000. Mayor Dale asked if it -wouldn't be worth it for them to stay with the City and see what the retainage and the recruitment pay might be that the City Manager is proposing, after he has worked with them on this issue. 452 E718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida- 4:00'~.,M; .'SPECIAL:'MEETING July .24, 2000 Art Harris, a citizen, reported that any time money is needed for Main Street, to promote the hotel, or for something for the folks downtown, the City can take the money from the reserve funds. He feels that the City policemen, who have to face somebody' s gun and everything else, are a lot more important than Main Street getting something they don't need. Let Main Street pay for their own advertising and things, the City doesn't need to pay for it. If the City truly does not have enough money, then forget some of those kinds of expenditures and put the money into the Police and Fire Departments. Commissioner Lessard reported that no matter what happens in any other departments in the City, the Public Safety departments should be exempt from any cut-backs or decreases in raises, because they are the most important employees to the City. Commissioner Williams reported it is very dangerous to start comparing Public Safety to other departments. Everyone knows that Public Safety is very, very important in terms of survival, but it should not be ::) ':~ ~.~ ':~' compared to other departments. Commissioner Eckstein reported the department that is priority at any given time is the department that is short of people. Public Safety is 90% of what the City has been dealing with in the last month and a half, and trying to get the Police Department up to full capacity. The motion was carried upon the vote of the Commission as follows: Mayor-Commissioner Dale Aye Commissioner Eckstein Aye Commissioner Willjams Aye Commissioner Lessard Aye Commissioner Jones Nay There being no further business, the meeting was adjoumed. Attest: