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Minutes 06-02-03MZNUTES OF THE COMMUN1rTY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY WORKSHOP HELD i'N CONFERENCE ROOM OF CRA OFFI'CE 129 EAST OCEAN AVENUE, ROOM 107, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON MONDAY, 3UNE 2, 2003 AT 6:30 P.M. PRESENT Larry Finkelstein, Chairman .leanne Heavilin, Vice Chair dos~ Aguila Alexander DeMarco Don Fenton Also Present Art Lee, Human Resources Director, City of Boynton Beach Absent Lindsey Payne, Board Attorney Susan Vielhauer, Controller Annette Gray, Administrative Assistant Michelle Hoyland Henderson 'l'illman Call to Order Chair Finkelstein called the workshop to order at 6:30 p.m. :It was noted that Mr. Hutchinson would not be able to attend due to illness. Human Resource Manual Discussion Art Lee, Human Resources Director at the City of Boynton Beach, came to the meeting to answer questions about the City's policies. Chair Finkelstein referred to a list pertaining to the contract employees of the City that he had been given at the time the Director was hired. This list referred to the City's policies pertaining to health insurance, probation, the vision discount plan, dental, pension, retirement, deferred compensation, term life insurance, sick leave, and vacation. :In response to a question from Chair Finkelstein, Mr. Lee indicated that some of the contract employees were in the City's Pension Plan and some were not. Some were in the Deferred Compensation program and some were in both plans. For contract and regular employees, the pension starts immediately upon employment, with full vesting in five years. The employee contributes to his or her pension per pay period and the City makes a contribution sufficient to keep the plan actuarially sound. Persons leaving before being fully vested only get back the contributions they have made. Meeting Minutes CRA Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 2,2003 The City provides 6 days of vacation the first year, :[2 days the second through fourth years, 15 days the fifth through the ninth years, :[7 days the tenth through the nineteenth years, and 20 days after twenty years. Vacation can be accrued up to a maximum of two years. There is no ceiling on sick time accrual. :In all cases, contract employees might have higher amounts of either. When an employee leaves the organization, he or she is entitled to :[00% of the employee's contribution to the pension. The refund of any amount contributed by the City depends on the person's vesting status and early or normal retirement date. The employee is entitled to :[00% of unused vacation. In some cases, depending on when an individual was hired and what the policy was at that time, the employee might be eligible to receive a percentage of unused sick leave also. Chair Finkelstein commented that the Board had determined that any workweek less than 40 hours would be considered part time. Mr. Lee indicated that the City hired temporary employees during the summer for a maximum of 35 hours and that this was considered part-time. No benefits are given to part-time employees. Mr. Lee commented that the City's General Employee Long-term Disability program is packaged with the life insurance and is paid by the City. Both programs begin on the commencement of employment. The City now offers several plans through AFl_AC, including a short-term disability program, and these offerings are at the employee's expense. rvlr. Lee left the meeting at this point and the Board thanked him for his time and interest. The Board considered revisions to the Human Resources Policies & Procedures Manual, alternating between the current revision of the Manual and the version with staff's revisions. Section 4-0, "Definitions" "Classification" - Delete. Add D. "Classification Plan" as submitted in the staff revisions. "Appeal" - "Appeal" shall mean a request for review by the CRA Executive Director or his designee or the CRA Board. "Demotion"- is acceptable as it stands. Ms. Vielhauer mentioned that she had changed the title and references to the Manual throughout to "Human Resources Policies & Procedures Manual." 2 Meeting Minutes CRA Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 2,2003 "Employment Contract" - end sentence at "...employment terms." Delete part that mentions reference to the Human Resource Policies & Procedures Manual. "Grievance"- Do not add "informal." "Part Time" - will now read: "Appointment to a position that usually requires a working schedule less than forty work hours per week. ":Immediate Family"- Grandparent and grandchild will be included. "Pay Plan" - The second sentence will now read: "A formal schedule of minimum, midpoint, and maximum pay ranges for all job classifications..." "Relative"- Remove cousin, grandparent, and grandchild. This relates to Section 2-6 "Employment of Relatives (Nepotism)" and Section 6-4 "Compassionate Leave." :Incorporate "Relative" into "Tmmediate Family" definition. Replace throughout the document the word "relative" and replace with "immediate family." All items in red on draft page 4 will be incorporated into the manual with any exceptions as noted above. In Section 1-5 "Human Resources Administration," ]:tem C shall read: "Approve appointments and removals for positions that require an employment contract" (in reference to Board duties.) Remove reference to delegation in (C). The CRA Executive Director is the responsible party, regardless of how he gets the job done. Change the CRA Executive Director or designee to read "The CRA Executive Director: .... " A global change will be done throughout the manual to change CRA Executive Director or Designee to read CRA Executive Director, except in the Grievance section where it might be appropriate to include someone other than the CRA Executive Director. The item referring to job descriptions, "K", as suggested by staff will be changed to read' Prepare and recommend to the CRA Board job descriptions and amendments to existing job descriptions as needed. The reference to .]ob Descriptions in 2-10 will be deleted. Section 2-1, "Equal Opportunity" - This section will be left as in the original version that includes Purpose and Provisions. Ms. Vielhauer stated that there was nothing that said that this Manual could be cited in a contract. Chair Finkelstein responded that it did not have to say that in the manual, but in the contract. Ms. Vielhauer wanted to make certain that contract employees 3 Meeting Minutes CRA Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 2,2003 could use this manual and Chair Finkelstein said that they could, as long as the provision was in the contract. Section 2-7, "Recommendation for Employment" Change to read, "...salary between the minimum and the midpoint of the position's pay range, the written justification to the file must be included in the employee's employment records. Tf the CRA Director proposes a salary exceeding the midpoint of the position's pay range, the matter must go to the Board." Section 3-2 "Performance Evaluations," A. "General Provisions" - Delete "prepared" and substitute "form" in third line. Section 3-3 "Harassment" - The term "or designee" will be added throughout the Harassment sections. Tn A. and B. in the Complaint Procedure section, the words following disciplinary action will be stricken. Tn the next to the last sentence in A. and B., "or Board designee" should follow "...shall notify the CRA Director..." Tn Reporting an Tncident of Harassment, second paragraph, "...]:f you receive information," should be changed to" .... If an individual receives information..." Also in same paragraph, strike the word "All" in fourth line and begin sentence with "Employees shall not discuss..." Make sure that "or designee" follows CRA Executive Director in this paragraph. Section 3-4 - "Formal Grievances" - The section dealing with arbitration is stricken. A sentence will be added stating that demotions can be further appealed to the CRA Board (following a negative finding by the CRA Director) and such decision will be final. Purpose and policy were mentioned in some places and policy and purpose elsewhere. This will be edited to be consistent. Section 3-5 - "Personnel Actions" - The Board agreed with the red-lined version. Tf the staff version were to be used, it would be acceptable as long as it said the same thing. Chair Finkelstein was not in favor of the staff re-write on Section 3-6 Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Provisions and preferred the original version. Ms. Vielhauer believes and the Board agreed that if a verbal warning were to be given, there should be a counseling form and a plan of action. The Board was unsure whether they had a Mission Statement. After some investigation, it appears that the Board has Goals and Objectives, but not a Mission Statement. It was 4 Meeting Minutes CRA Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 2,2003 agreed that a Mission Statement should be created and adopted as soon as possible. Ms. Payne stated that this should be adopted informally. Section 3-6, "Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Provisions" - "mission statement and values" will be replaced by "goals and objectives." Mr. Aguila felt that all personnel actions should be subject to appeal to the Board, regardless of whether they were a result of misconduct or performance. A reference to that effect will be added to this section. The pertinent sentence will now read: "The employee shall have access to an appeal process." ]:n Section E, "Dismissal" part 3., strike "...and the fact that the decision of the CRA Executive Director shall be final." End the sentence at "...upon by the CRA Executive Director." In Section 4-1 "Classification Provisions," Ms. Payne suggested deleting the last sentence that begins with "Two or more..." Tn Section 4-2, "Pay Provisions'; it will now say: "The pay plan shall include schedules of pay for each title. Mr. Lee's assistance will be sought to make this section clear and correct. Tt was thought that the Tables of basic pay rates could probably come out. :In Section 4-3, "A. Hours of Work," "as a public employer" will be stricken and "overtime" will be replaced with "additional hours." Section 4-3, "B. Overtime," shall read: "The established work week is Wednesday 12:00 a.m. through Tuesday, 11:59 p.m." Ms. Vielhauer's comments about job descriptions included a need to identify an employee's status regarding exempt or non-exempt in the job description. The Board decided to work on the job descriptions at another time. In Section 5-1, "Outside Employment'; "or designee" will not be included. This contradicts the earlier statement that it would be changed throughout the document to say "or designee," but the Board agreed that there were a few instances in which it should not be included and that this was one of them. Section 5-4, "Political Activity," change CSA to CRA. ]:n Section 5-5, "Resignation," this will be added: "At the end of the third day, the CRA shall send to the employee's last known address a notification that the individual has abandoned his or her job and voluntarily resigned." 5 Meeting Minutes CRA Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 2,2003 In Section 6-1, "Annual Leave," "Annual" will be replaced with "Vacation." Staff recommended two weeks of vacation during the first year. There were three vacation plans for consideration and the consultant recommended the third option as being most closely aligned with the competing labor market in the public sector. At a previous workshop, the Board had decided to adopt a schedule for vacation as follows: first year - 5 days; second year, 10 days; third year 15 days; and fourth year, 20 days. This corresponds to the first option in the consultant's suggestions and the Board agreed to adopt this as the CRA vacation policy. Ms. Vielhauer pointed out that the CRA accrues time from the date of hire after probationary period and not from .lanuary 1 and the manual will be changed to reflect this. An employee may not accrue more than the most recent two years. The accrual for sick leave is 8 hours a month or 12 days a year. All agreed to limit sick time accumulation to 60 working days. The long-term disability issue will affect this. Ms. Vielhauer stated that it was difficult to get quotes for such a small group of people. Tn Section 6-3, "Holidays," Veterans Day, Ms. Payne suggested having a "B" under Vacation stating that there was one floating day that did not accumulate and must be taken during the calendar year. ~[n Section 6-4, "Compassionate Leave," the words "up to" will precede five working days in the first sentence. The words after immediate family will be stricken up to "Under extreme circumstances..." ]~n Section 6-5, "Jury Duty," Mr. Aguila questioned the return of monies to the CRA for service on the jury or as a witness related to CRA business. Ms. Payne stated that this was a common practice so that people would not get double pay. Section 6-7, "Short Term Disability" - Ms. Vielhauer is in the process of getting three quotes. Ms. Vielhauer was requested to try to link the short-term disability to the life insurance in a package format. Mr. Fenton asked for $25K in life insurance. She will also try to get an option for additional term insurance. Section 6-8, "Long Term Disability" - The CRA will make this available at the employee's cost. ]:n Section 6-9, "Leave Without Pay" - This leave shall not exceed a period of 60 days. The employee may not be employed elsewhere during a leave. Meeting Minutes CRA Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 2,2003 In Section 6-10, "Medical and Dental insurance"- Tt was agreed that the insurance offered would be comparable in quality to that being offered by the City, understanding that it would cost more for a small organization. The benefit is for full time regular employees and not contract employees, unless the contract includes it. Individual provisions of the CRA Manual might apply to the Director, for example, but his or her contract would have to contain specific references to Section 6-10 and 6-1:L for those sections to be applicable in his case. Tn Section 6-~.1, "Retirement," Ms. Payne stated that the City's Pension Plan was by Ordinance. Ms. Vielhauer offered to have the representatives of the various Pension Plans come to the Board with a presentation. Ms. Vielhauer believed that she had three quotes, even though one of them was a "no quote," and Ms. Payne advised that she would need to get another, viable quote. The Board agreed that there should be a probationary period of 90 days and that benefits would begin after successful completion of the probationary period. The details of the various quotes were discussed. They agreed to a format of 5% matching, 90 days probation, 20% pension accrual a year, and 5 years for full vesting. The Board requested that the manual be brought before them at their next meeting, on June 10. The item can be put under the Consent Agenda, with the exception of the Pension Plan, assuming all the agreed-to changes were made. If the Pension quotes are received, that item can be put on under New Business at that meeting. The Board did not think it was necessary to hire a person for Events but did agree that an Assistant Director and Secretary should be brought on board as soon as possible. Ms. Vielhauer will send out .lob Descriptions to the Board members including the original ones and another with comments in red. Ms. Payne commented that Mr. Hutchinson might wish to make changes in his contract that reflect these benefits and bring it to the Board for approval. III. Adjournment The meeting was duly adjourned at 10:00 p.m. Susan Collins Recording Secretary (060303) 7