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Minutes 09-01-04 MINUTES OF THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING MEETING BETWEEN THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH AND THE PALM BEACH COUNTY POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION HELD IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1,2004 AT 1:00 P.M. Present For the City: For the Union: Jim Cherof, City Attorney Steve Graham, Assistant Chief of Police Mary Munro, Budget Coordinator Rosemarie Lamanna, Paralegal Jill Hanson, PBA Attorney Officer Nancy Aspenleiter Det. Toby Athol Sgt. Gary Chapman Lt. Richard Root Sgt. Stewart Steele Officer Robert Thomas 1. Call to Order Attorney Cherof called the meeting to order at 1 :25 p.m. a. A sign-in sheet was circulated, which Ms. Lamanna collected for the record. b. Copies of the PBA proposals were distributed. Attorney Hanson stated that they would conduct a separate ratification of the City's proposal for the medical prior to the remainder of the contract being ratified. However, the City would have to agree to bring back the Blue Cross-Blue Shield representatives prior to the open enrollment period to speak with people in the Police Department. Attorney Cherof said that he would check with Assistant Personnel Director, John Jordan, when the meeting breaks. Attorney Cherof stated that the Union would be ratifying the program that the City announced that the PBA could not participate in, to which Attorney Hanson concurred. 2. Discussion of Articles Attorney Cherof stated that he received the Unions' proposals and recommended addressing them individually. Attorney Hanson reported that she distributed the combined contract today and requested that the representatives review it and get back to her with their comments to be discussed at the next session. Attorney Cherof agreed to this. Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 Attorney Cherof requested that if the Articles that the Union agrees to are known, he would like a list forwarded to him so he could be prepared to discuss them at the next meeting. This was agreed to. Police Officers' Counterproposal Article 5-UNION BUSINESS Attorney Hanson noted that the City had proposed that the Union would designate a member of the bargaining unit to handle representative activities; Le., a lieutenant would be chosen to represent a lieutenant, a sergeant would be chosen to represent a sergeant and an Officer-detective to represent an Officer-detective. Attorney Hanson was not sure that this was a mandatory subject for bargaining. They would not agree to this, but they would agree to some kind of language that if there were a conflict of interest with an Officer, or lieutenant, or sergeant representing a particular employee, that person would not be eligible to represent the employee. Attorney Cherof stated that the language being proposed would read, "If a conflict of interest could be identified by the Police Chief, or his designee, another representative would be appointed." Attorney Hanson was not in favor of leaving this to the sole discretion of the Police Chief. In that case, Attorney Cherof inquired who would determine this. Det. Athol responded that there would have to be concise language that would state if a person has a direct conflict, the representative could not be involved in the chain of events that occurred under the chain of command of that person. Attorney Hanson stated that they had legal concerns to allow a person to represent an Officer if there was a conflict of interest. She also felt that they would be placing themselves in jeopardy if this were left to the sole discretion of the Police Chief to dictate who the PBA representative would be. Attorney Cherof responded that the PBA was agreeing not to designate a representative who is in the chain of command and who would be a potential witness in the proceeding. Attorney Hanson stated that she would have to discuss this with the PBA representatives. Sgt. Chapman pointed out that if it involved an off duty situation, the chain of command would not apply, but if the incident occurred while on duty, representation would have to be determined. Attorney Cherof stated that if this were the case, that person-- (1) Would not have a direct involvement in the incident; (2) Nor could they be responsible for making a recommendation on the discipline. 2 Meeting Minutes PBA/Cityof Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 With the addition of this language, Mr. Cherof stated that the City would agree to the PBA's counterproposal on Article 5. Attorney Hanson pointed out that in the current Officers' Contract it states "accompany" in Section 1.C. Attorney Cherof noted that this had been changed to "assist." Article 8 - V ACANCI ES Attorney Hanson noted that the City proposed in the Officers' Contract that the Chief would essentially be given unfettered discretion to set the starting salary for a candidate for an entry level position. The PBA is proposing to replace the existing Section 2 with the following language: "When a position in the bargaining unit is filled by hiring a candidate with law enforcement experience from another agency, the candidate may be hired at a starting salary commensurate with the candidate's experience, up to, but not more than, $41,422.00, as determined by the Police Chief and the Human Resource Director." Attorney Cherof inquired how this figure was arrived at. Officer Aspenleiter responded that this was $5,000 above the starting salary. Attorney Cherof pointed out that this figure is lower than the third year figure in the current agreement. That figure is $41,563. Attorney Cherof recommended taking the $41 ,563 and adjusting it upward to whatever the figure is agreed to as the base wage increase on average. Ms. Munro recommended using a flat amount or a percentage so the figure would not have to be changed every time the starting salary changes. Discussion ensued on whether a flat figure should be used or a percentage. Article 11 - HOURS OF WORK AND OVERTIME Attorney Hanson stated that in addition to including vacation hours towards hours worked, they would like to have the other hours that other City employees receive that count towards hours worked. The language they are proposing was taken from the white and blue-collar contracts. Attorney Cherof had no comment at this time. Article 12 - WAGES Attorney Hanson stated that their counterproposal is that every member of the bargaining unit who is not on probation would receive a base wage adjustment of 6% as long as they "meet expectations" on their performance evaluation. Attorney Hanson noted that the wage increases for Lieutenants were handled this way the last time they received raises. If they met standards, they all received 5%. 3 Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 Attorney Cherof interpreted this to mean that the PBA is requesting a 5% base-wage adjustment and if a person "met expectations", they would receive an additional 1 % for a total increase of 6%. Attorney Hanson stated that this was correct. Also, Attorney Cherof interpreted this to mean that the PBA has accepted the City's proposal of 5%, plus the performance based adjustment of 0% to 4%. Lt. Root stated that they are proposing a 6% adjustment at "meets standards," which is their counteroffer. Also the pay for performance would be replaced with "meets standards" or "below standards." Attorney Hanson stated that their proposal states that if a person receives "below expectations," there would be a procedure to be followed to assist that person in achieving "meets expectations." Attorney Cherof noted that the contract currently provides that this employee would be re-evaluated in 90 days. Lt. Root stated that they would like to add an additional 90-day re-evaluation after the first one, if that person had been assigned a mentor because they failed to meet standards. After this six-month period, that employee would be subject to the non- disciplinary performance based termination. Attorney Hanson pointed out that this procedure is followed in the Sheriff's Office and the School Police. This would give an Officer some goals and standards and have someone to work with to help him meet expectations before he is terminated. Attorney Cherof inquired if termination would be automatic after six months if the employee did not meet expectations. Attorney Hanson stated that termination would not be automatic because there could be varying situations involving good Officers who are undergoing trying times. Attorney Cherof responded that at this point the Officer could be deemed unfit for duty and could be a high risk individual. He felt that the City should have the ability to fire someone. Det. Athol noted that there was a typo in Section 2 and the figure should be "$62,500.00." Article 17 - GROUP INSURANCE Attorney Cherof stated that the language was not clear and he read it as a "waiver." Attorney Hanson said that the existing language is ambiguous and they do not want to waive this. Attorney Cherof stated that the language in Section 3 should be cleaned up to make this clear. Attorney Hanson noted that the City has an insurance advisory committee, but that committee cannot bind the union. Therefore, whatever the proposal is, it has to be taken back to the bargaining unit. 4 Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 Attorney Cherof stated that there is a sentence missing in the current language in Section 3. It states "that the Union may reopen negotiations of this Article by making a written request to the City Manager." Attorney Cherof would like to add a statement that reads "and the City's proposed change would not be implemented as to bargaining unit members until the bargaining process is concluded." Attorney Hanson inquired if the City would be agreeable to the Sergeant's language on the selection of carriers when the obligation kicks in. Attorney Cherof will respond to this later. Article 18 - LEAVES The date will be changed. Attorney Cherof thought that it was 1991. Article 22 - TRAINING Attorney Hanson questioned the City wanting to cap tuition reimbursement at $30,000 per year for all personnel combined, since Police Officers are encouraged to continue their education. In the interest of achieving a contract, they are willing to agree to the lower reimbursement based on State University rates for people who begin a course of study after October 1, 2004. This means if an Officer is currently in a university program, that Officer would be able to continue to receive the full reimbursement rate in order to complete the program. Attorney Cherof interpreted this to mean that current participants in the tuition reimbursement program are grandfathered in, which Attorney Hanson stated was correct. Ms. Hanson questioned why the City would want to put a cap on this program since the Chief and the City Manager have the discretion to determine who actually gets reimbursed. Attorney Cherof responded that the cap represents fiscal accountability for the Commission that approves the Department's budget. Det. Athol did not think that this should be an issue and that no cap was needed. Attorney Cherof recommended leaving the cap in for the one year of the contract. Sgt. Chapman noted that the current rate was $50,000. Attorney Cherof stated that the actual expenditures were under $30,000. Attorney Cherof will have Finance check this figure. Also, Attorney Hanson was not certain that this should be a bargaining issue, since management has authority over this. Lt. Root stated that he had some figures for last year and indicated $40,000 had been budgeted and $55,000 was actually spent. 5 Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 Article 23 - CAREER PATHS Attorney Hanson stated that they did not have a counterproposal for this Article. The Union feels that this is important and noted that one of the problems that the Department has is retaining personnel. She stated that the reason the City wanted to eliminate the Article was that no one used it, but there were a significant number of Officers who were not yet qualified to participate. She felt that the program would be utilized over time and noted that many other police departments have this program, including the Sheriff's Office and West Palm Beach. She felt that this was a valuable tool to encourage people to stay with the City. Article 24 - PERSONNEL RECORDS The PBA agreed to the language proposed. Article 25 - LEGAL ACTIONS The collective bargaining unit had concerns about this. Attorney Hanson felt that the State Statute could actually put the Officers in a position of jeopardy. Attorney Cherof noted that the PBA supported this Statute. Attorney Hanson pointed out that the Statute improves conditions for Officers not covered by bargaining agreements. Attorney Cherof stated that the City's proposal was intended to expand the defenses available to bargaining unit members, not reduce them. He will recheck the language in the Statute. The City was of the opinion that Officers should have all the available defenses allowed under law. Lt. Root noted that the language states that the employing agency of any Officer has the option to pay reasonable fees. Attorney Cherof stated that the City would exercise this option as part of the contract proposal, and it would be eliminated as an option. The City is prepared to provide all defenses that are available to the Officers. Lt. Root felt that this was a misunderstanding and they would agree to this, and Attorney Hanson concurred. Article 26 -GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE Article 27 - DISCIPLINARY APPEAL Article 28 - RIGHTS UNDER INVESTIGATION No changes proposed Article 29 - DISCIPLINE AND DISCHARGE The PBA is not agreeable to change to the City's Personnel Policy Manual (PPM). Det. Athol stated that in order for them to go to the PPM, it would have to be totally revamped to apply to law enforcement and the Police Department. 6 Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 Attorney Cherof stated that it is the City's desire that all City employees be subject to the same disciplinary review process. This would be much better for management to deal with and to have a consistent process in place to ensure that all employees' rights are protected. Attorney Cherof said that the City might be agreeable to some modification of the language. He did not feel that it was feasible to have several types of disciplinary appeal processes throughout the City. Attorney Hanson pointed out that Police Officers have some specific processes that are dictated by the Statutes. Attorney Cherof stated that the City is not asking for any waivers of the State Statutes because this is not possible. Attorney Hanson said that they had concerns that the City was requesting a one-year contract. Det. Athol stated that the PPM could be revamped to make it applicable to the Police Department. Attorney Cherof responded that the City would prefer to have the provisions regarding discipline excluded from the contract. Sgt. Chapman inquired how this could be done, and Attorney Cherof stated that the City Commission approves the PPM. Sgt. Chapman inquired if the PBA would be allowed to provide input. Attorney Cherof responded it would probably depend upon the change itself. Sgt. Chapman was concerned that changes could be made to the PPM without the bargaining unit being aware of the change or being allowed any input. Attorney Cherof pointed out that the City's proposal is to exclude the disciplinary Article from the collective bargaining agreement. Attorney Cherof recommended that the Union look at the PPM. Attorney Hanson stated that they would determine what sections of the PPM could apply to the collective bargaining unit. Attorney Cherof pointed out that it is not the City's intention to eliminate any rights of review or due process afforded employees, but is seeking consistency. Article 36 - LONGEVITY BENEFIT Attorney Hanson stated the Union is proposing a new Article 36 that would be a longevity benefit. Attorney Cherof inquired if this benefit had been costed out. Det. Athol stated that they could do this and provide it to Attorney Cherof. The language in their proposal was taken from the blue-collar collective bargaining agreement. Attorney Cherof inquired if the longevity benefit would be included in the calculation of the average wage for pension purposes. Det. Athol stated that they would come up with the applicable wording to address this. 7 Meeting Minutes PBA/Cityof Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 Det. Athol noted that this benefit has been available to other employees for quite some time. They would like all those Officers who have been with the City for five to nine years, upon ratification of the contract, to receive a $500 bonus and the remainder of the Officers would receive their bonuses accordingly. Article 37 - TAKE HOME VEHICLE Attorney Hanson stated that this was a new Article and U. Root had some information on this. Attorney Hanson reported that there have been studies that indicate that this is a cost saving item. She noted that more and more agencies have adopted a take home vehicle policy. Attorney Cherof called for recess at 2:21 p.m. The Meeting reconvened at 2:33 p.m. U. Root pointed out that allowing police personnel to have take-home vehicles is an excellent recruiting tool. Most agencies the size of Boynton Beach or larger typically have take-home cars. This is supported by the fact that it results in less mileage. Take- home vehicles usually average 25,000 miles per year, compared to patrol vehicles that average 68,000 to 72,000 per year. This results in less wear and tear on the vehicles. Their proposal for take-home vehicles would also apply to Officers who have been employed three or more years with the City. Lieutenants are currently allowed to have take home vehicles and this same language would apply to the other contracts. Lt. Root pointed out that Delray Beach, Boca Raton, West Palm and the Sheriff's Office provide all their Officers with take home vehicles. When the Department has shift changes, instead of having only 11 cars in the lots, there is double the amount of cars. If they entered into a three-year contact, in order to provide all eligible Officers with take-home cars, it would require the City to purchase approximately 70 new cars, or 24 cars per year for three years. Lt. Root stated that the Fleet Manager supports this because maintenance of vehicles could be scheduled, noting that sometimes the City shop has 10 cars in for maintenance at the same time. This would eliminate their workload. Also, Officers are required to carry so much equipment, that having their own vehicle would cut down on transferring all this equipment from one vehicle to another. An Officer would be required to live in the County to have a take-home vehicle. If an Officer lived outside the County, they would have an assigned car that would not be driven by anyone else and it would be parked during their days off. The car could be left setup and they would be ready to come to work in the event of an emergency and could get out onto the road as quickly as possible. Attorney Cherof stated that because he has nowhere to go on this issue, he requested that the minutes on this subject be as close to verbatim as possible and that he would bring it to the City Commission through the City Manager. 8 Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 Attorney Hanson noted that there have been studies done on this and Attorney Cherof requested that they be furnished to him. Det. Athol pointed out that cities that have adopted a take-home vehicle policy have not had a negative impact. Attorney Cherof stated he could not respond to this today and will share this information, as well as any other information that is provided to him. Article 38 - DURATION Attorney Hanson stated that the collective bargaining unit rejects the City's proposal to freeze wage benefits at the end of the contract period. They are proposing a three year contract; however, with a re-opener on wages and perhaps two other items. Attorney Cherof inquired if this would be an automatic re-opener. Attorney Hanson stated that it could be at the request of either side. Det. Athol would like to get the language in for three years, so they did not have to go through the negotiations again. If the parties do sit down before three years, they would like to limit it to one or two items. Attorney Cherof stated that he would be prepared to respond to the Union at the next meeting. SERGEANTS'PROPOSAL The Sergeants Proposal was distributed. Union Business Attorney Cherof stated that the language for this Article had been previously addressed. Vacancies Attorney Hanson stated that the Sergeants do not want the language proposed by the City. Lt. Root said that they would like the Chief to stay in house when dealing with promotions to Sergeants. Attorney Cherof did not think that this was doable since this was not allowed by City policy and would address such issues as achieving diversity, etc. Lt. Root stated that achieving diversity should begin at the recruitment level. Attorney Cherof did not think that the City would be amenable to not hire from the outside. Attorney Hanson stated that the Sergeants are proposing that the City not hire from the outside. Sgt. Chapman pointed out that in order to be promoted to a bargaining unit position there are qualifications that must be met: ~ Three years of experience as a law enforcement Officer with the City of Boynton Beach, United States military police, any law enforcement agency, or any combination thereof. 9 Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 ~ Must possess on effective date of hire and thereafter maintain FDLE certification. ~ Must possess on effective date of hire and thereafter maintain a Florida driver's license. Attorney Cherof stated that this is an attempt to write a provision into the Rank and File Contract giving them promotional rights to the rank of Sergeant. Attorney Hanson stated that they would come back to this Article. WAGES This is the same proposal as for the Officers. The proposed starting salary would be $52,022 or $6,192 added to the hourly wage of the Officer, whichever is greater. ~ GROUP INSURANCE ~ LEAVES ~ TRAINING ~ PERSONAL RECORDS ~ LEGAL ACTIONS ~ LONGEVITY BENEFIT ~ TAKE HOME VEHICLES Same language as previously discussed. Attorney Cherof stated that he would be prepared to respond to the items at the next meeting. Sgt. Chapman inquired if the collective bargaining members were bound by the City's APM, and Attorney Cherof responded that they were. This is one of the collateral documents that apply to all the collective bargaining unions. Sgt. Chapman stated that there has been discussion regarding telephones and inquired if they were entitled to one. Attorney Cherof responded that this had been addressed this year. Assistant Chief Graham stated that it was too expensive to pay $60 for each collective bargaining member to be equipped with a cell phone. Sgt. Chapman stated that their current cell phones have poor reception and if they use their own phones and are subsidized by the City, it would not be subject to court proceedings because it is the Officer's personal phone. Sgt. Chapman would like to have cell phones provided by the City to avoid these types of conflicts. L1EUTENANTS'PROPOSAL Lt. Root stated that their proposal would have the same language changes as the other contracts. They are prepared to discuss all the other language changes when they meet again, but he would like to go over the wage proposal as follows: 10 Meeting Minutes PBA/Cityof Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Union Boynton Beach, Florida September 1, 2004 · They are proposing to stay at the current hourly rate that they are at now. · Beginning October 1, 2004, the starting pay would be $75,000. · If someone were promoted, the starting pay would be $75,000. · Lieutenants would receive 6% at meets expectations. · They would qualify for the 8~% shift differential. · The longevity bonuses would apply. · The holiday pay would be the same as the other contracts. The Lieutenants are also proposing to keep their take-home vehicles and that there would be no language change to the contract regarding take-home vehicles. Attorney Cherof asked if they had an opportunity to review the exempt status issue and Attorney Hanson had no comment. Sgt. Chapman inquired if there was any discussion regarding the compensatory time sell back issue. Attorney Hanson stated that this was not mentioned. Sgt. Chapman stated that the Sergeants would like to have language in their contract dealing with compensatory time. This will be reviewed when the entire contract is reviewed. Attorney Cherof requested if it were possible, he would like to receive the Articles being proposed by the collective bargaining unit so he could review them. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 2:51 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~.~. A. M..rdik~ Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (September 10, 2004) 11