01-17-87 Personnel Committee MinutesPersonnel and Policy Committee January 17, 1987
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Councilman Grainger called the meeting to order. Also attending were Mayor
Kennedy, Councilmen Saverud and Ruiz, City Attorney Neier, DPW Hammer, C/T
Halver and Roger Hopkins.
I. Grievance
Chairman Grainger called upon Mayor Kennedy who asked City Attorney Neier to
explain a current grievance.
Neier referred to a letter from Gene Heilman, an attorney representing Jerry
Edmondson, Gene Lauman and Ricky Baker who were moved from the Garbage
Department to the Street Department when the eastside garbage crew was
replaced by the side -arm loader and then were laid off in November.
The letter contends the Garbage Department was terminated and therefore under
provisions of the contract on seniority if the department is terminated then
the employee presumably can bump into other departments of the city where
like skills are used.
Neier said our position always has been the Garbage Department wasn't
terminated, the employees that were laid off as a result of the side -arm
loader bid into the Street Department and started to accumulate some
seniority in the Street Department prior to being laid off. That's been our
position.
He suggested the committee members read the letter and if they wanted to have
input for his response that was fine.
Neier then reported on a grievance Ken Hammer had given him filed by the same
three people which challenged the City's right to use Street Department
personnel when the City picked up Christmas trees and some garbage which was
out with the trees. They filed a grievance saying that was Garbage
Department work.
Neier said his response would be that it was his understanding that the alley
cleanup and the cleanup of Christmas trees and miscellaneous garbage has
always been accomplished by the Street Department.
Councilman Grainger asked if the Garbage Department had been dissolved, Neier
says it still exists, with one employee actually picking up garbage and
several being paid from that department.
Grainger asked if we hired a guy back who would it be. Neier said his
understanding was a vacancy in Garbage, any of the three could apply and we
would consider them before any of the laid off street employees.
Each department has their own seniority list, Grainger asked what else could
have been done and why would we hire anybody back.
Mayor Kennedy spoke of the irony of the situation, this grievance came in
grieving that there was a Garbage Department so they should have been called
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Personnel and Policy Committee January 17, 1987
back to pick up that garbage, this letter from their lawyer says that since
you have terminated and there is no Garbage Department you should have done
this this way, so they contradict each other.
Neier asked if it was the Committee's understanding the Garbage Department
was not terminated.
Hamner said historically the work has been paid by the Street Department.
Mayor Kennedy said he felt Glen Neier needed the consensus of the Committee
that we did not terminate the Garbage Department.
Chairman Grainger requested City Attorney Neier answer the letter the best
way he can, the Committee didn't know of anything they could add to it.
II. Street layoffs.
Mayor Kennedy asked Councilman Ruiz if he had any question for Glen regarding
the legality of the layoffs.
Ruiz said he felt everything was legal, he had asked Glen to look into the
possibility of the employees leaving their vacation and sick leave accrual on
file.
Neier reported that was a policy established for state employees and did not
apply to cities. We have handled the vacation and sick leave pay off in
accordance with state law and the procedures in our employee handbook.
• Ruiz pointed out a long term employee could build up a large amount of sick
leave which is paid off and then if the employee comes back and gets sick and
needs an operation he doesn't have this sick leave to draw upon. He didn't
think that's right if you are looking at a recall in a couple of months.
•
He wanted to know if it is possible for the Council to adopt a policy to
allow the person an option to leave his sick leave on the books.
Mayor Kennedy said he asked Glen if we could do that and he would have liked
to do that but we couldn't. Ruiz said the Council could adopt that policy
and Grainger said that wouldn't go back.
Ruiz thought we were going to hold up the payments until we could see if we
could do this.
City Attorney Neier said we had told them in their letter we would pay them
today and they were all expecting it.
Mayor Kennedy asked Glen if these were terminations or layoffs. Glen said
they had not been promised they would be rehired at a specified future date.
The letter said something to the effect there may be work in the spring but
it cautioned them to not pass up other opportunities because we can't promise
you will be hired back.
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Personnel and Policy Committee
January 17, 1987
Councilman Ruiz said another thing that clouds the issue is that you may
have a Parks Employee who has been there six months who is used to plow snow
while these others with more seniority have been laid off.
City Attorney Neier advised we should hire laid off people back before we
use people from other departments to plow snow. They were laid off because
there was no work and when we have work they should be hired back. Mayor
Kennedy said they have been instructed to do that.
Mayor Kennedy told Councilman Ruiz he took a little exception to Ruiz'
saying we can't hire people on a seasonal basis to construct streets.
Kennedy said the reason he did this was to save some tax dollars, to cut
down on the city's expenses and he didn't believe in paying somebody when
there is no work to do. He also reminded Ruiz that during a Council meeting
he had said that just because there is money there you don't have to spend
it.
Ruiz responded he thought there was work for them to do, that's where the
philosophy difference is. If they can't find work for them we better take a
look at our street superintendent, because he didn't want to keep a street
superintendent for two people. If you have good employees you take care of
them. If we don't want a full time street department then we should change
our philosophy and contract everything out. We should have a good core of
eight people who know the work and our needs.
• Mayor Kennedy said he disagreed with that philosophy and Ruiz said that's
fine, if that's the philosophy we are going to take, his committee would
look at not doing our own construction work.
Mayor Kennedy said we are saving money and money is going to be less and
less from now on and we can save money by using part time crews in the
summer. Ruiz agreed and said we should get out of the business and quit
buying expensive equipment that sits for seven months a year.
Kennedy said he has checked with the Water and Parks Departments to make
sure there is work for them to do.
Ruiz says that goes back to supervisors and Kennedy said he disagreed. He
understood in the past the street people were not doing much in the winter
time evidently and the city had paid them to sit on call and he completely
disagreed with that philosophy.
Ruiz said that wasn't the story he got from the people doing the work. He
didn't feel there were many good employees who could stand to sit around.
They have to have something to do.
The meeting adjourned at 4:45.
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