Loading...
Minutes 10-13-04 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, OCTOBER 13, 2004 AT 9:00 A.M. Present For the City: For the Union: Jim Cherof, City Attorney Steve Graham, Assistant Chief of Police Mary Munro, Budget Coordinator Jill Hanson, PBA Attorney Det. Toby Athol Sgt. Gary Chapman Lt. Richard Root I. Call to Order A sign in sheet was distributed. Attorney Cherof called the meeting to order at 9: 15 a.m. II. Opening There were several observers on the PBA side and they were welcomed to the table. Attorney Hanson said, for the record, that she had not received a proposal for the Lieutenants yet. Attorney Cherof agreed that this was the case. He stated that there was a problem converting from exempt status back to base wage employees with overtime calculated in. It was difficult to come up with numbers that would be palatable to the Lieutenants. He did not believe this should slow down progress with the other two bargaining units, however. III. PBA Response to City's Wage Proposal Attorney Hanson expressed the majority of the bargaining unit's negative reaction to the City's wage proposal. Unless there was movement on the City's side, bargaining on this issue would be at impasse. She outlined the bargaining unit's last proposal, which basically included acceptance for some members of the bargaining unit to remain "status quo" in regard to wages, and a provision that there would be take-home cars or the phasing in of a take-home car program. Meeting Minutes PBA/City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida October 13, 2004 Attorney Cherof could not offer any flexibility on the take-home car issue since the City was not in favor of it. He felt that the City's proposal had fairly considered the amount of money budgeted and the way to spend it. IV. City's Proposal Attorney Cherof presented Attorney Hansen and the PBA bargaining team with a new, two-page wage proposal as follows: 1) 5.50/0 to base, performance 3-50/0 2) N/ A to base, performance SOlo (based on 2004/05budget) Attorney Cherof explained that page 2 reflected the City's budget for the Police Department under the current scenario and included 8.5% shift differential and 5% assignment pay, a career path, and pay for performance. The total budgeted wages were $6,652,883. On the first sheet, the City proposed a base wage increase of 5.5%, a rolling back of the assignment pay including the 8.5% shift differential, and pay for performance of 3-5%, with $6,605,000. They had just a little over $50K to work with. He was happy to hear any suggestions. Attorney Cherof commented that the City wanted to keep the maximum base wage increase to a ceiling of 10.5% for any bargaining unit member. That would be a maximum of 5.50/0 plus 5.5% for the highest performing member and 8.5% for the lowest performing member. Attorney Hanson asked Attorney Cherof to elaborate on the City's proposal. Attorney Cherof said that the Proposed 2004/05 Budget scenario (page 2) included the contract the way it was currently formulated with the road patrol receiving 8.5%, and the 5% assignment pay. It maintained a continuation of the status quo. The City allowed $316,804 for pay for performance. There was no base wage increase in the budget-proposal; all the money was in pay for performance. Attorney Hanson said that the City's wage proposal included nothing for the 8.5% (which was $286K). Attorney Cherof said the budget for the upcoming fiscal year was 5% higher than the previous one. A 50/0 increase department wide was budgeted. Det. Athol stated that the City wanted to keep base wages no more than 10%, but getting rid of the differential pay left only the option of raising the base. 2 Meeting Minutes PBA/ City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida October 13, 2004 Attorney Cherof said this was the City's way of offsetting this - they took the money from the 8.5% and spread it throughout the entire department as a base wage increase. The City's number was 5.5%, working with the 3-5% pay for performance. The City believed that the $50K saved from eliminating the 8.5% shift differential would be needed in order to close out the Lieutenant's contract. They were going to be shifted back to where they got overtime and their numbers on overtime prior to shifting them to exempt status were astronomical. Attorney Hanson asked Attorney Cherof if he was still convinced that the change in exempt status was legally required. Attorney Cherof responded that the preamble to the new regulations stated this and contained language on which the PBA and FOP had lobbied. It had an express statement that police officers should not be exempt status employees. Attorney Hanson read that and said it was ambiguous regarding how it would be executed. Attorney Cherof agreed that the language in the preamble and the wording of the regulations could not be reconciled. The City would be prepared to stay with treating the Lieutenants as exempt status if there was reasonable assurance that there would be no future liability to the City for doing that. Attorney Hanson commented that even if she and Attorney Cherof could agree on this point, it would still have to be approved by the Lieutenants. Attorney Cherof did not think that the PBA team would be in a position to go to each of the Lieutenants and get a waiver saying that they would not bring an action against the City to collect overtime. Attorney Cherof stated that if the parties reached an agreement on leaving the Lieutenants at "status quo," that would free up about $50K under the City's proposal. After a brief caucus, Attorney Hanson presented a PBA counteroffer. Based on the sheet bearing the heading Proposed 2004-05 Budget, including 8.50/0, the PBA proposed pay for performance with 5010 at meets standards, with some type of longevity increase included. The longevity increase would not be fully implemented until October 2005. The bargaining units wanted to have uniformity with other City contracts, which had longevity bonuses. Attorney Hanson also asked that the hours of work features be the same for the PBA as in the other contracts with the City. The Hours of Work in the City's other bargaining contracts included vacation pay, sick time, comp time, and exactly what constituted hours of work. 3 Meeting Minutes PBA/ City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida October 13, 2004 Det. Athol explained the longevity benefit request and how it might play out in execution. The City was not particularly interested in longevity. Attorney Hanson stated that it was more important from their point of view to get the feature into the contract than the exact details. The 8.50/0 shift differential was discussed extensively. Spreading the money around among those affected did not appear to be an easy job since assignment to the extended shift was not permanent. The idea of giving officers something to look forward to in terms of salary was discussed also. The City did not want to '10 back to a merit/step plan, saying that if a person wished to do so, they could look at the salaries of those who worked here five years ago and plot forward. The final proposal on the table was this. Attorney Hanson stated that the proposal of 5.5% added to base wages would be acceptable with these conditions . . 1) The assignment pay for road patrol would have to be confirmed at 2%; 2) The pay for performance would be 4-1/4, 4.5, and 5; 3) As of 6/1/05, there would be an additional 1% increase in base wages. Hours worked would be defined as in other City contracts concerning sick leave, comp time, and so forth. Attorney Cherof stated that the City would consider that proposal. Attorney Cherof stated that a definitive agreement had to be reached with the Lieutenants on the issue of their exempt status. The agreement would have to give to City a level of comfort that money did not have to be set aside to pay overtime if a claim were brought against it. Attorney Cherof confirmed that "status quo" meant that the Lieutenants would stay in the exempt status. The City could not even talk about the PBA proposal unless agreement could be reached on exempt status for Lieutenants. Attorney Hanson asked for a package from the City. Disciplinary Appeals Attorney Cherof confirmed that if discipline were made more regular and followed certain routines, it would cut down on arbitration, which was expensive 4 Meeting Minutes PBA/ City of Boynton Beach Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida October 13, 2004 ($lK/day for an arbitrator), and would leave the City some money that could be spent at the bargaining table. Attorney Cherof commented that they had been focusing on wages but there were other points in the contract that had monetary impact to the City as well. Attorney Cherof will arrange another bargaining session during the week of October 25. The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, ~tI<<~( Susan Collins Recording Secretary (101504) 5