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Minutes 08-27-02 Contractual Negotiation Meeting between IAFF Local 1891 And the City of Boynton Beach held on Tuesday, August 27, 2002 At 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room B, City Hall, Boynton Beach, Florida Present: For IAFF: Mike Fitzpatrick Treasurer x6626 Barkley Garnsey Business Agent x6327 Randy Jute President x6340 Matt Keeler Secretary x6340 Dean Kinser Vice President x6340 For the City: Carol Cheek HR Coordinator x6278 Wilfred Hawkins Assistant City Manager x6012 Jim Ness Deputy Fire Chief x6333 Diane Reese Finance Director x6312 Ol~eninq and Introduction Mr. Hawkins convened the meeting at 10:15 a.m. Barbara Madden, Recording Secretary, recorded the meeting and took notes for the purpose of transcribing the minutes of the meeting. Topics of Discussion Mr. Jute stated that the following items needed to be revisited: Article 2 - Discrimination Article 8 - Hours of Work Article 19 - Vacation Mr. Hawkins said that Article 2 was submitted to the Legal Department and he has not heard back from Legal. Mr. Hawkins telephoned Ms. Lamanna and requested a response on this Article. Mr. Hawkins did not have a problem with the Article, but wanted to have it reviewed by Legal. With regard to Article 8 (Boca Raton work schedule) Mr. Hawkins responded that Administration looked at the requested changes and felt there was no immediate cost savings and that any cost savings would be intangible and long-term. Mr. Hawkins said that they could not implement these changes at this time. Administration understood the philosophy of the changes, but felt they could not afford to do it at this time. Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 Mr. Jute disagreed with this interpretation. He pointed to the extra contracts that the City has with the Village of Golf, Hypoluxo and Ocean Ridge that bring in additional money without employing any extra help. Mr. Hawkins reiterated the City's position that they could not afford to implement this type of schedule currently and the savings presented during the presentation were not concrete, tangible savings. The savings were long-term savings based upon people not calling in sick and better scheduling of vacation time. Mr. Hawkins stated that the money they receive from the contracts goes to operate the Department. Therefore, there is no way to save money up front. Mr. Jute pointed out that the money does not go to the Fire Department. It goes into the General Fund to operate the City. Mr. Fitzpatrick pointed out that the money taken in from the western areas for water services does not go into the General Fund, but into the Utility budget. Mr. Hawkins said that the same concept could not apply here and Mr. Fitzpatrick asked why it could not. Mr. Hawkins responded that cities do not do business this way, which is a fundamental way of financing. Mr. Hawkins said utility funds are always separate and are an enterprise fund. Mr. Fitzpatrick said that this same concept should apply to the Fire Department contracts. Mr. Fitzpatrick pointed out that when GALA collects money, the money goes into a separate account. He asked why the Fire Department funds could not go into a separate fund. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that GALA is a separate event, not a fund. Mr. Fitzpatrick asked if the City considered contracting out services to the Town of Hypoluxo a specific event and Mr. Hawkins said this is a way of doing business. The money goes back to you by paying your salaries and you still reap the benefits of that money. Mr. Jute stated that they never reaped the benefit of those contracts. The City took on those contracts without providing any extra benefits to the Fire Department personnel, nor did it add new personnel. Nothing ever changed, so there was no added benefit; all this did was add to the workload. Mr. Jute said that the added benefits went into the City coffers, which was approximately one-half million dollars. Mr. Hawkins noted that this goes to pay their salaries. Mr. Fitzpatrick stated that whether or not Wally Majors puts on a softball tournament and collects entry fees, he still gets his salary and when the softball money comes in, it does not go into the General Fund. Mr. Hawkins stated that the money is used to support that specific event and keeps the event going. Mr. Hawkins said if the City chose not to renew the contract with Ocean Ridge or anyone else, that would be less work for the firefighters, but your salary would not decrease and you would still be paid what you were being paid at the time of the contract cancellation. Mr. Hawkins said that if the City decided to do away with the softball tournament, the people hired to support that tournament would go away. However, the firefighters would never go away. Mr. Hawkins stated that those contracts 2 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 provide additional dollars to maintain a particular service level, whether the City has the contracts or not. Also, it keeps the property taxes down. Mr. Hawkins explained that recreational programming is totally self-sustaining and personnel is hired accordingly. Mr. Fitzpatrick said that if the City gets the contract with Ocean Ridge it will hire another 12 people and those people are being hired specifically for that. He asked why the money from Ocean Ridge does not go right into the Fire Department budget instead of the General Fund. Mr. Hawkins again stated it was an accounting principle. Mr. Fitzpatrick said that the City is treating Recreation and Parks and the Water Department differently from the Fire Department. Mr. Hawkins said that Recreation and the Fire Department are not comparable services. Recreation is not public safety and the City does not even have to do it. The City would eliminate Recreation before it would eliminate the Fire Department. Mr. Fitzpatrick retorted that the City does not have to service Ocean Ridge and Mr. Hawkins agreed that the City does not have to do that if it chose not to. This is a choice that the City has to decide on whether it wants to go to Ocean Ridge. Mr. Kinser asked if there was a specific time that the City would be willing to move into the new work schedule. Would it be one year, two years or three years? Mr. Hawkins responded that there would be a cost increase to go to that schedule with no immediate savings. Mr. Hawkins restated that the City cannot afford to do this. He had inquired if there was a way to do this incrementally and he found that there were no precedents for incremental application. The contractual dollars help keep the City afloat and even if the contracts go away, he doubted that people would be laid off. Mr. Fitzpatrick asked if 12 people were hired for Ocean Ridge and then Ocean Ridge went away, would the City keep these 12 people. Mr. Hawkins responded that this has happened in the Police Department when people were hired with a grant. When the grant was no longer in effect, the City kept those people and never laid anyone off. Mr. Hawkins did not think that the City would lay off these 12 people and would absorb the cost through the ad valorem dollars, but there could be consideration to lay those 12 people off if the contract went away, although he did not think this would happen. Mr. Jute stated they were trying to make a point on the costs of running a Fire Department for this size City. He stated that their call load has increased dramatically over the years without any increase in personnel, and they have had the same three · stations for years. Going to this type of workweek would be an inexpensive cure to the problem. Technically, they should have six stations and another 40 firefighters. We are not sitting here stating that we have to have three more fire stations or that we have to have 40 to 50 more people; what we are saying is to help us along. We have increased contracts, we have had a dramatic increased workload, and we need a little bit of help. Mr. Jute continued to point out that the overall budget of the whole Fire Department is. basically an inexpensive fix to their problems. This is going to be an ongoing problem for years to come and we still do not know if the assessment is going to stay and we do 3 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 not have any new stations yet. Who knows what could happen--there could be rebates back to everybody. We feel this is an inexpensive fix with a lot of benefits to the City and to the Department itself. We do not want to throw this aside because we think we have a very good argument. We would like the City to look at this closely and compare what fire departments cost other cities. Mr. Jute compared Boynton Beach's Fire Department costs to Delray Beach, which far exceeds this City's costs. Mr. Jute acknowledged that it came down to money and he understands that. Mr. Hawkins responded that when Fire Administration looked at this arrangement, no one said it was not doable, but it is money. He stated that the City chose to implement the fire assessment method and this is the way the City plans to proceed. The City has received its first year payments and is moving forward with purchasing property to build one station. The City is also planning to move forward with hiring people. Mr. Jute pointed out that the new contract is for three years and he did not think there would be much change in three years. Mr. Garnsey said that even when the fourth station comes on line, the call rate would continue to grow. Mr. Jute said this problem should have been taken care of 10 years ago. Mr. Hawkins agreed with this statement and noted that now the City is playing catch up. Mr. Jute stated that they are not complaining and that everyone is working hard. Mr. Hawkins said that there is no fundamental disagreement with this being a way to handle catching up, but from the City's standpoint they have chosen the assessment method as a way to proceed. Based upon that, the City cannot afford to do anything else. He said that they have to do a lot in year one, such as building the new station and begin remodeling the another station. Mr. Hawkins said that they are committed to hiring people and are going through the hiring process right now. Mr. Jute does not want to remove this from the table and requested that it sit for the time being. They are 100% serious about this workweek and felt that they have made a good case. He requested to continue with the rest of the negotiations. They are a well run Department and are very cost efficient. He would like this reflected during the remainder of the negotiations. Mr. Hawkins noted that the Commission has to approve the fire assessment every year. If it did not get approved one year, they would be in a bind. The City would have to become creative to do something else, and the alternative workweek could be turned to. Mr. Hawkins agreed to keep the item on the table. Mr. Kinser asked if the City came up with any projections for the costs. Mr. Hawkins noted that 12 additional personnel would cost $600,000. Mr. Kinser said their figures came out to $635,000 and spread out over three years would cost $211,000. Mr. Kinser said that implementing the 24/72 workweek would cost $635,000. Chief Ness said that in actuality they are looking at 36 new people; 12 for the new station, 12 for the following year and possibly another 12 for Ocean Ridge. Mr. Kinser stated that the costs for Ocean Ridge would come from Ocean Ridge's budget. 4 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 Mr. Garnsey said that Boynton Beach is already behind other cities and if the City only maintained, they would still be way behind other cities. He noted that Boca Raton is putting on a referendum to build two more stations and hire more fire personnel. Chief Ness asked if the call volume would go down with the 24/72 workweek, and Mr. Garnsey stated that the calls per person would go down. Mr. Jute pointed out that it is hard for everyone sitting here to understand the call volume that the Department handles and that the call volume is phenomenal. Mr. Hawkins concurred that the City is in a serious scenario with limited resources. He asked Ms. Reese when the last time was that the City did a major bond issue and she responded in 1982. Mr. Garnsey asked why the City has not done any major bond issues since that time and Ms. Reese responded that the public would not support it. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that 28% of the property owners in the City pay no taxes because of the homestead exemption. Ms. Reese stated she receives calls daily from senior citizens asking why they have to pay a fire assessment. Article 19 - Vacation Mr. Jute noted that the Fire Department was proposing to go one plan (Plan A) for all their employees. Mr. Hawkins stated he had a problem with this because this was a citywide issue since all other employees were on "Plan B." Mr. Hawkins said that they are going to have to make a concerted effort to make any adjustments and the City does not want to use the Fire Department as an example. Mr. Hawkins said that they were open to adjusting the vacation scenario, but wanted to do it on a broader scale. Mr. Hawkins said that this year they cannot do anything with the vacation schedule, but will look at it next year on a broader scale. They plan on speaking with other departments to determine how they do their scheduling and it may have to go to other unions for approval. Mr. Jute inquired if the City wanted to keep Plan A and Plan B and Mr. Hawkins stated that they do for now. Mr. Fitzpatrick inquired if other contracts had vacation openers in them and Mr. Hawkins was not certain. Mr. Fitzpatrick asked how this could be looked at if other contracts did not have vacation openers. Mr. Hawkins responded that they have to look at it from a policy perspective. Right now, the City does not want to make a global change to its vacation policy using the Fire Department as an example. Mr. Garnsey pointed out that they were not present to negotiate for the rest of the City and that their vacation policy does not work like the other departments. Mr. Jute pointed out that the purpose of the vacation article in the contract is to negotiate it. They are not waiting for four or five other bargaining units to negotiate it. It would not be fair to close this down to wait for five other units. 5 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 Mr. Hawkins pointed out that they presented a blended proposal on the table. Mr. Fitzpatrick stated that it appeared to be taking hours from people who have been here the longest and giving the hours to people who have been here for the least amount of time. Mr. Hawkins did not disagree with Mr. Fitzpatrick's assessment of the vacation plan. Mr. Kinser said that they would submit another proposal for vacations utilizing the two- tier system. Mr. Hawkins stated that they would look at the revised proposal when it is submitted. Mr. Jute referred to Page 4, Section 2, of Article 19 and recalled that at the last meeting this change was agreed to. He asked Mr. Hawkins to review the Article and reconfirm the change. This section changes the selection of vacation time from calendar year to fiscal year. Mr. Hawkins confirmed that there was no problem with this section Ms. Reese pointed out that the City went to fiscal year two years ago and questioned why the Fire Department still used the calendar year. She recalled that they were given time to change to the fiscal year accrual time. Mr. Kinser responded that the Fire Department was on a calendar year accrual time under the contract. Mr. Jute stated that the policy never changed. Ms. Reese inquired how this would affect their carry over time. Mr. Kinser stated that they pick vacation from January through September and only have from January through September 30th to use that time and they are losing out on the months of October, November and December. Ms. Reese questioned why they needed more time to make this change since the City made the change to the entire policy for all employees to have the accrual period end on September 30th. Mr. Jute pointed out that although the accrual time was changed, their pick time never changed, which resulted in personnel losing three months of vacation time. Ms. Reese further pointed out that if any one has gone over the limit on September 30th, they have lost their time and the Fire Department should have been on this policy last year. Ms. Reese felt that the pick time was not relevant because it would fall within one fiscal year or another. Mr. Kinser noted that they cannot arbitrarily take vacation whenever they like. There are 87 members who chose vacation time on a seniority level and they cannot accrue overtime. Mr. Hawkins asked what the limit was and Ms. Reese responded that it was 2 x whatever time was accrued. Mr. Kinser pointed out that they did not have to change this language and could have left it as it was. Mr. Kinser noted that the accrual time was changed to a calendar year, but their vacation pick time has not changed. Article 4- Union Business Mr. Hawkins referred to Section 1 of the Article that allowed time off for union business and inquired if this time had to be used prior to using the banked time. Mr. Garnsey did 6 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 not think it mattered, because they would lose the 10 days if they do not use it and the time is not accruable. Chief Ness suggested changing the language to read "prior to using the bank, the City allocated hours would be used first." Mr. Keeler printed out the new Article 4 and Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Jute signed off on the revised Article. Article 10 - Uniforms and Safety Equipment Mr. Hawkins pointed out that Chief Bingham wants to include a pair of dress shoes and a tie and requested that they be worn whenever Class A Uniforms are required. Chief Ness also requested that work shorts be added to the Article. Mr. Hawkins said that a revised Article would be presented at the next meeting for final review and sign off. Article 23 - Working Out of Classification Mr. Jute said that there were three items that they wanted to include under Wages that were currently included in Articles 23, 26 and 14. It was agreed to put this item aside for the time being. Mr. Jute requested that Article 14 (Wages) be dealt with first. Also, Mr. Jute requested that Article 12 be reviewed simultaneously with the other Articles. Mr. Hawkins distributed copies of the revised Article 29 (Vacancies and Promotions). Mr. Jute said that he would review the revised Article. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that Section 3 reflects the 10% for Lieutenants. Article 40 - (Duration) Mr. Jute requested this be addressed last. Addendum for the Post-Druc~ and Alcohol Testinn~ Mr. Hawkins acknowledged that this item had been signed off on, but wanted assurances that it is properly added as an exhibit to the contract. Mr. Jute inquired if Mr. Hawkins was referring to the re-opener and he stated that he was. Mr. Hawkins said that the language has been agreed to, but he wanted to make sure that it was officially titled and added to the contract. Mr. Kinser pointed out that it was addressed under Article 12 in the re-opener and called "Addendum C" to the contract. Mr. Kinser said that he would make sure that the document is properly titled and attached to the contract for the next meeting. 7 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 Article 14 - Wa.qes Mr. Hawkins presented the following figures based upon a three-year contract: October 1, 2002 - April 1, 2003 - October 1, 2003 - April 1, 2004 - October 1, 2004 - April 1, 2005 - 2% 4% adjustment 2% market adjustment 0-4% performance 2% market adjustment 0-4% performance Mr. Hawkins explained that the entire City is going to an April performance date and would like the Fire Department to go to this date as well. The first two rate increases would be a regular raise. Beginning in April 2004, the wage increases would be based upon a person's performance appraisal. Mr. Jute felt that moving everyone in the Fire Department to an April performance appraisal would be difficult to accomplish and would place a lot of work on a Lieutenant to get them all done at the same time. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that it is imperative that the six-months appraisals be done, which would make it easier to do the yearly reviews. Mr. Hawkins noted that this is also the direction that other municipalities are moving to. Mr. Jute pointed out that Lieutenants run calls and this will be difficult for them to accomplish. Mr. Jute inquired if there were any other fire departments that did all their evaluations in April. Mr. Hawkins was not sure. Mr. Kinser suggested looking at other fire departments to see how they implemented this. Mr. Hawkins responded that all departments in the City have been notified that the City is moving in this direction. Mr. Kinser asked if the City did any research with other municipalities and Mr. Hawkins said that they have. Chief Ness said that he spoke to Chief Bingham about the appraisal dates and he suggested that the Lieutenants should start getting their paperwork together and not wait until the last minute. He pointed out that there are other City departments that have a lot more employees to evaluate. Mr. Kinser would like to see how other departments are doing this, while at the same time continuing to perform their jobs on a daily basis. Mr. Hawkins noted that there could be problems, which occur every time a system is changed. This requires that the supervisor must concentrate on the evaluations every month. Mr. Hawkins said that the City feels that this is a better way to do things by sitting down with your employees every six months. Ms. Reese said that they implemented this procedure last April and she maintains a folder on each of her employees. She said that she sits down every six months with her employees and reviews their six-month performance. It is not necessary to sit down with each employee for a long period of time, but this procedure has been working for her. 8 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 Mr. Kinser pointed out that their employees and companies constantly change and this procedure would be hard to follow. Ms. Reese suggested that if a folder were kept on each employee, when that employee moves to another company, the folder would go to the new supervisor. Mr. Hawkins furnished Mr. Jute the sheet of paper on which he wrote the figures down for the proposed wage schedule. Mr. Garnsey pointed out that the figures for April were way off from the comparables that were agreed upon previously. Mr. Hawkins responded that they would be looking at some of the comparables and pay range adjustments. Mr. Hawkins stated that there is a possibility of a 5% pay range adjustment during the first year and 2~% in subsequent years. Mr. Garnsey was requested to review the figures that they came up with after looking at the comparable departments that had been agreed upon. A copy was furnished to Mr. Hawkins and the Recording Secretary for inclusion with the minutes. The pay chart included pay for firefighter/paramedic and driver/paramedic and Mr. Garnsey reviewed the figures. The figures showed that Boynton Beach's starting pay is 15% below the average. The maximum range was not far off from other municipalities, but the time it took to reach the maximum took much longer. It takes a Boynton Beach firefighter 25 years to reach his maximum, whereas other fire departments range between 7 to 10 years. After those employees reach their max, there is an annual adjustment. Mr. Jute would like to have the pay plan corrected and to have the City adopt a better system, which Mr. Garnsey has been working on. Mr. Jute was not referring to the money as much as the system. Mr. Garnsey pointed out that the County has 8 steps and a person reaches their maximum within that time. After certain periods in time, they receive longevity increases. Ms. Reese inquired if all firefighters had to be paramedics and Mr. Garnsey said they did not. He used this for comparison purposes to show what a person would receive if they were a paramedic as well as a firefighter. If a Boynton Beach firefighter were not a paramedic, their base pay would be $7,488 less. Mr. Hawkins said that they would look at these figures. Mr. Hawkins asked if there were municipalities that pay their paramedics a percentage of salary. Mr. Kinser responded that Palm Beach County and most of the comparable cities pay a percentage of salary to their paramedics. Article 29 - Vacancies and Promotions Mr. Hawkins stated that they are projecting a 10% promotional difference for Lieutenants. Mr. Jute requested that Mr. Hawkins review the information furnished by Mr. Garnsey. He said that they are extremely interested in moving into a step plan that most of the 9 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 other fire departments employ. Mr. Hawkins inquired how this would work with the current firefighter 1, 2 and 3 scenario. Mr. Garnsey prepared a sample pay plan, which he presented to Mr. Hawkins and the Recording Secretary for inclusion with the minutes. The steps were in 5% increments to keep it simple. This would save the City money because other departments have separate tiers that come out to more than a 5% raise. The sample would still not bring the City up comparably to the other cities. Mr. Hawkins inquired how this method would work on a performance basis if everyone who moved to the next tier received a preset increase. Mr. Garnsey stated that they would move to the next tier based upon a satisfactory performance review. Ms. Reese noted that this would eliminate the 0-4% increase that was proposed based upon a satisfactory performance. Mr. Garnsey said that they have been using the performance system for a year and have found that it does not work because of the number of supervisors doing the ratings, since every supervisor rates people differently. Mr. Jute also stated that the performance system was not fair and has caused a lot of problems. Mr. Jute would like to see a "pass or fail system" so that everyone is on the same playing field. Mr. Garnsey said that they are still using the performance appraisal for promotions and professional development, but as far as different people being paid different rates for doing the same job, it does not work. Mr. Jute said that they preferred the step system. Mr. Hawkins asked if this has been relayed to Administration and Mr. Jute stated that it has. Mr. Jute noted that when he was evaluated, he had only worked with this supervisor for four days and the system is not good for the Fire Department because of the constant personnel change. Also, Mr. Kinser asked how people are supposed to be evaluated since they perform so many duties. Chief Ness asked if there was some kind of compromise that they could come to because he feels that goals and objectives are important and are a benefit to the Department. Mr. Jute said they are not trying to do away with the evaluation system, they only want to make it fair. Discussion took place about finding some type of consistency among the supervisors in rating their employees. It was acknowledged that not all supervisors rate their employees the same way, which creates problems. Mr. Hawkins asked what they would consider satisfactory under the performance measures that have been set. Mr. Hawkins noted that what Mr. Jute was proposing was either a pass/fail system and asked what would happen if an employee failed their evaluation. Mr. Kinser pointed out that people have failed their evaluations in the past and they would have 90 days to pass their evaluation. Mr. Hawkins felt that this needed to be discussed at greater length and some type of resolution needed to be arrived at. 10 Meeting Minutes IAFF Local 1891 Contract Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida August 27, 2001 CONCLUSION AND FOLLOW-UP Mr. Hawkins said that they would (1) look at the pay plan adjustments and the numbers some more; (2) they will look at the performance issues; and (3) the issue of the length of time to achieve maximum pay also needs to be looked at. Mr. Garnsey pointed out that there is a current problem in the Department. With the elimination of the step plan, people are now leap frogging. They would like to eliminate this practice by adopting the step plan. This would prevent anyone who is in the same pay scale and has been with the City for only two years from making more money than someone who has been here for four years. NEXT MEETING Mr. Jute said that they are committed to getting this done in a timely manner and requested that they meet more often. Mr. Jute requested that if it were necessary, they were prepared to meet every week. Mr. Hawkins suggested meeting sometime during the second week of September. He will notify all parties by email of the next meeting date. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 12:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (three tapes) With attachments: Article 2 Article 4 Article 29 Addendum C Pay plan survey Sample pay plan Cc: Rosemarie Lamanna, Legal Department Chief Bingham (September 3, 2002) 11