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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/19/1999 BAKERSFIELD Alan Tandy, Mike Maggard, Chair Staff: Alan Christensen Irma Carson Mark Salvaggio AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PERSONNEL COMMITTEE Thursday, August 19, 1999 12:00 noon Risk Management Conference Room 1. ROLL CALL Call to Order 12:00 noon Present:Councilmembers Mike Maggard, Chair; Irma Carson and Mark Salvaggio 2.ADOPT JULY 15, 1999 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Tabled to the next meeting. 3.PRESENTATIONS None 4.PUBLIC STATEMENTS None 5.DEFERRED BUSINESS None 6. NEW BUSINESS A. DISCUSSION AND COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION ON SALARY STUDY/REFERRAL City Manager Alan Tandy stated that after the last Committee meeting, one item went to Council dealing with people in the category of Police Lieutenant and above on the salary chart. After the Committee meeting, it became clear that the references to internal and external meant different things to different people. Management and some of the employees who discussed APPROVED AS SUBMITTED ON OCTOBER 4, 1999 AGEND,A SUMMARY REPORT PERSONNEL COMMITTEE Thursday, August 19, 1999 page -2- the study thought that it would be a pay comparison study of other municipalities looking at the comparative layout of wages to see if people in this group of supervisory and management employees were either generally below the norms that we established for our bargaining units, or on line with the norms, and that individual positions on the scale that might be out of sync with those norms or those averages would be looked at. The issue from management's point of view on internal and external was who would conduct the study. Would we hire an outside consultant or the other option was to do the study in-house with the Human Resources department and receive feedback from representative employee groups, and have oversight and involvement by a committee of the impacted employees. Some readers or listeners to the proposal thought the words internal and external referred to the issue of whether we would do a comparison of other cities and the process just described, or whether we would only look at ourselves as an organization and the internal relationships of organizational positions to one another. So, there was not absolute clarity on this subject after the last meeting. Mr. Tandy stated that he has met with a group of employee representatives from different levels and discussed this issue. The City has not been through these kinds of pay comparisons for the non-represented employees since 1992. Although they are done regularly for represented groups, they are not commonly done for supervisory and management. So, there were questions about how it would be done, what kind of appeals procedure there would be, who would listen to appeals and how would the information be interpreted. We have agreed to outline in a detailed, step-by-step manner what we believe would be a 'reasonable and appropriate sequence of events with activities identified in an appeals procedure, so that before we commence a study, there's clarity for everybody and prior to the information coming in, everybody understands what's to take place. For those who believe it should be a study of looking into ourselves only and not comparing us to outside employers, if you want to do the same thing, which is spell out step-by-step what you think should be looked at, what the procedure would be, and what the appeals process would be, we can look at that. If the internal study is to be a retrospective look at our MOU's and our.management letters to ascertain over the last 5 to 10 years if there have been specific things given to the represented employees that have not been given to supervisors and administrative people, which gives an historical tracing of whether pay has come closer together, that would be an objective study that can be proven and would be clear. What is a concern and must be avoided is individualized comparisons from the pay plan, which would require judgements from the Human Resources Manager or a committee of employees because that is not objective information for a study. The City Manager stated that although he is partially advocating a comparison of other cities for the study, he is still open to recommending to the Committee any of the three options, the original concept of comparison of other employers, an internal only concept, or both. But, a recommendation will come after meeting with impacted employees in group meetings, and after more clarity is achieved on exactly what such a study would consist of. Chief Code Enforcement Officer Randy Fidler spoke on behalf of the Supervisory Group to present their suggestions to the Committee. The supervisory negotiating committee would like this Committee to take into consideration a 5% across-the-board for all supervisors, as was given to upper management without an outside study. They also had discussed the problems with outside studies, such as often the positions in other cities and counties are not alike AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PERSONNEL COMMITTEE Thursday, August 19, 1999 Page -3- because of job duties, environment, size, age, 'and population. They would support Councilmember Carson's suggestion of a 16% spread between classifications to eliminate future inequities. Finally, they took.a benchmark of what happened in the last 10 years, and took another supervisory group, and it seems that the supervisors in general have dropped almost 9% from that benchmark going through the 10-year period, and he stated that is why they are looking at the 5% to catch them back up. Committee member Carson stated that her recommendation was not a percentage number, but whatever the percentage would be, that we, the Council, should adopt a ratio between the ranks so that we would not fall into this compaction issue again. Local 700 employees representative Chuck Waide spoke about concerns regarding the fact that bargaining sessions were just completed a few months ago, and now after all the agreements are settled, for the City to go back and look at some classifications within certain units and not look at all of them raises the question of why are we looking at some and not at others, and he will have to explain this to his membership. He stated that he was not against a salary study, but that it should be a Citywide study, and typically, salary studies are done prior to the end of contracts. City Clerk Pam McCarthy was asked by the Management Unit to read the following statement: As you know, at the July 21, 1999 Council meeting, the Council adopted a resolution increasing salaries for a majority of the Management Unit. Additionally, as part of the recommendation, a salary study is to be conducted on Management and General Supervisory Units. Nineteen management employees were excluded from the salary increase. The decision has inadvertently split the management unit into two groups. Meetings have been held among members of the Management Unit to address this issue, as well as the study. The key concern expressed is the splitting of the Management Unit. Therefore, the remaining rrianagement employees respectfully request that Council reconsider the previous action and extend the salary increase to those employees. An estimated annual cost increase would be $39,300. Members do agree that a study with focus on internal compaction and equity issues is necessary. We also agree the committee should consist of two representatives each of the Management and Supervisory Units, as well as Alan Christensen, Darnell Haynes and Carroll Hayden. However, we believe clarification is needed regarding the role of the committee participants, establishment of a time frame and further definition of the terms "internal" and "external." We understand that a quality study will take some time in order to adequately address compaction and equity issues. We also recognize that certain aspects of the process are still in question. However, we are eager to see them resolved and are confident they can be done so to the satisfaction of all concerned. Committee member Salvaggio spoke regarding the fact that he does not support an external study, because he feels the employees do not support it. Committee member Carson spoke regarding doing an internal study for the balance of management and supervisory that we are considering now, but believes in the long term we should do a Citywide study later to study the ratios between the ranks. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PERSONNEL COMMITTEE Thursday, August 19, 1999 Page -4- Assistant City Attorney Alan Daniel spoke on behalf of the 19 Management employees and stated that they support the City Manager's process and are not opposed to an external study. Building Inspector Jack Highfill spoke and said that the last study that was done had very little employee input. If the proposed study includes employees' input on the parameters of the study and the equality of the comparable cities, they would be behind that. City Manager Alan Tandy stated that this should be looked at as a rare opportunity that has come about due to an unusual set of circumstances and there is at least an opportunity of something positive and better for the City's employees. We need to take the time to have group meetings and gather information and get clarity on exactly what each side is proposing to see if we can come to a consensus. Policies can be built in to avoid negative impacts to employees. Committee Chair Maggard stated he wants employees to be happy and productive and does not want them to be apprehensive about the study and the Committee is open to listen to any concerns. He wants employees to be assured that they will not be negatively impacted by any study, internal or external, that we decide to do. It is the desire of the Committee that this be done as fairly and equitably as possible. The Committee unanimously decided to wait before making a decision until staff has time to meet .with employee groups to come to a consensus and bring the information back to the Committee. B. DISCUSSION AND COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION ON THE CITY PHYSICIAN CONTRACT Risk Manager Scott Manzer stated that the City's three-year contracts for City Physician Services are coming up for renewal. As we routinely do, a Request for Proposal was sent out in June to seven providers. The City received five proposals back, one was eliminated and four were interviewed on July 2®. The review board consisted of Carroll Hayden, Ron Fraze, Joe Lozano and Scott Manzer. It was unanimously decided that W. B. Christensen was the most knowledgeable and experienced. Two other facilities were thought to exhibit the potential to also provide services in perhaps a more limited capacity. They were Southwest Urgent Care and Bakersfield Occupational Medical Group. Staff is recommending that service contracts go to Southwest Urgent Care for Fire personnel; Bakersfield Occupational Medical Group for Police personnel; and all others to W. B. Christensen. Chuck Waide spoke that he did not think the employees would approve of the above recommendation that Blue and White Collar workers would be assigned to W. B. Christensen, because they have been very satisfied with Bakersfield Occupational. He suggested that the employees get an option of picking from one of the three. Committee member Carson stated the employees should have a choice of where they wish to go. Committee member Salvaggio agreed that employees should be able to pick among the three. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PERSONNEL COMMITTEE Thursday, August 19, 1999 Page -5- The City Manager stated that there are several services provided under this contract, such as pre-employment physicals, random drug testing, fitness for duty and return to work, and workers' compensation. Employees do not have a choice for pre-employment physicals. Last time every employee was sent a letter with an option to pick or identify the physician of their choice and if they were injured on the job, they could go to that physician. If they did not respond to the letter or had not predesignated a physician, they were sent to the assigned physician. Committee Chair Maggard asked, if for example, we say that Southwest Urgent Care is adequately able to provide all those services to Fire personnel, why would we not allow that provider to provide those services for any of our personnel? Staff responded that they will need to check with the providers to see if they are willing to accept only pieces of the work bid instead of providing all services. The Committee unanimously decided to table this item until staff has time to check with the providers and return to the Committee with further information.' 7. COMMITTEE COMMENTS None 8. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m. cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council AC:jp Staff present: City Manager Alan Tandy; Assistant City Manager Alan Chdstensen; City Attorney Bart Thiltgen; Human Resources Manager Carroll Hayden; Alan Daniel, Assistant City Attorney; Darnell Haynes, Assistant to the City Manager; Gil Rojas, Assistant Finance Director; Bill Descary, City Treasurer; Bob Tobias, Assistant Fire Chief; Michael Rogers, Public Works/General Services; Eric Poore, Building Division; Jack Highfill, Building Inspector; Jeff Bryson, Building Inspector; Rodney Knight, Assistant Construction Superintendent; Rick Williams, Survey Operations Supervisor; DeWayne Starnes, Construction Superintendent; John Wilburn, Solid Waste Superintendent; Ernie Medina, Fleet Superintendent; Russ Combs, Construction Inspection Engineer; Randy Fidler, Chief Code Enforcement Officer; Luis Perales, Street Maintenance Superintendent; Scott Manzer, Risk Manager; Mike Conners, Street Maintenance Supervisor; Brad Underwood, General Services Superintendent; Pam McCarthy, City Clerk; Anthony Gonzales, Human Resources Supervisor; and Janet McCrea, Human Resources Supervisor. Others present: Chuck Waide and Ward Wollesen, Central Californian Association of Public Employees; Richard Watkins, Fire Department retiree/B-FLAG;