9.0. SR 01-16-2001Item #~.
City of
River
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Mayor & City Council
FROM: Pat Klaers, City Administrator
DATE:
January 16, 2001
SUBJECT: Executive Session
Introduction
The City of Elk River has four police sergeant positions. Three of these
positions are patrol sergeants and one is an investigative sergeant.
In late 1999, the Elk River police sergeants formed a union. Following this
decision, negotiations began in mid 2000 for a city-police sergeant union
contract. This has been a long negotiation process with at least five formal
meetings with our city consultant and the union negotiator being present.
Additionally, there have been a number of informal conversations and
meetings with the employees and management staff and the negotiations
have been very amicable. Both sides are being especially careful with
language issues in this first contract as once certain language is approved in
the initial contract, then the terms and conditions are always open for
renegotiations and it becomes very difficult to have language removed from
the contract at a later date.
City Labor Relations Consultant Ann Antonsen will be present at the City
Council meeting to provide information on the proposed contract. Staff is
requesting council approval of the terms and conditions and then a final draft
of the contract will be presented to the council within a month. The contract
will include lots of standard union contract language and terms/conditions of
employment. Attached for your information is the table of contents from the
union contract for the police officers. This will give you some idea of the
issues that were dealt with in the negotiations with the sergeants.
13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · TDD & Phone (763) 441-7420 · Fax (763) 441-7425
Major Contract Considerations
One of the biggest changes from a "standard" sergeants contract versus our
proposal is that the sergeants are moving to exempt status. This means that
they will not be eligible for overtime pay and that they are truly moving into
a management position. The typical contract in other cities for sergeants is
very similar to the contract for the regular officers and includes payment for
overtime hours worked. It was important to us (the management team - Lori
Johnson, Tom Zerwas, Jeff Beahen, Ann, and me) to move these positions
into the exempt status to reinforce their management and supervisory
responsibilities. Of course in exchange for this exempt status, the city paid
for a certain amount of overtime hours. The city's offer to the union is 3
percent wage increase per year, but an additional 6 percent increase if (and
when) they move to exempt status. Essentially the city is paying for 83 hours
of overtime per sergeant in the contract and history has indicated that all of
the sergeants work for more than this amount of overtime hours. Use of
compensation time by the sergeants will be the same as it is for all other
exempt employees.
Another issue in this contract that needs to be discussed with the City
Council is that the Wage Incentive Program (WIP) will be based on the
sergeant's pay versus the current guidelines that call for the WIP to be based
on the top patrol officer's pay. However, the city has negotiated that future
sergeants will not be eligible for WIP and the program will be phased out as
the four current sergeants retire.
Another component of the contract to be reviewed is that we are going to a
Start, end of 2 years, and end of 4 years pay plan. This is different from the
current pay plan of Start, 3, 5 and also different from the normal police
sergeant contract in other communities that calls for a Start 1, 3 pay plan.
(The police officers are on a Start, 1, 2, and 3 year plan.) Essentially we
moved down slightly from where we were, but we remain above the normal
sergeant contract in terms of how many years it takes to get to the top of the
pay plan and also when the first pay increase is received.
Additional Issue
This was a difficult financial contract to negotiate, as we were already
concerned about the pay differential between the sergeant and the assistant
chief positions. Depending upon the amount of overtime earned, it was
conceivable that a sergeant could earn more than the assistant chief and yet
actually work less hours. (We were close to this situation in 1999.) While the
proposal before the council will get the sergeants within about 4 percent of
the assistant chief position, we at least know that they will not be working
similar hours and exceeding the wage of the assistant chief. Additionally,
future sergeants will be lower as they will not be eligible for WIP. The
closeness of the management positions in the police department is a concern
in Elk River and we are not unusual in this regard as other communities
have very similar situations. (A complicating internal issue is the wage of the
assistant chief related to department head positions.)
Conclusion
Staff looks at this proposal as a win/win situation and we were looking at the
long term in our negotiations. Currently we have four sergeants, one of whom
will be retiring within a few years, but within 5-10 years, we are sure to have
more, and maybe younger, sergeants and they could be more serious about
the WIP than our current sergeants. This is especially true if we phase out
the three corporal positions and transfer the responsibilities of supervising
the patrol officers to an additional sergeant or two. The win/win situation
includes the following...
City:
·
·
Gave away nothing out of the norm.
Received exempt status for the sergeants in exchange for extra dollars
(extra 6 percent).
Got WIP eliminated for future sergeants.
Kept plan at Start, 2, 4 versus the norm of Start, 1, 3.
Total wage package is approximately the same as a "normal" year with
overtime wages.
Union: · Received "security" of a union contract.
· Got extra pay in exchange for exempt status.
· Received Start, 2, 4 pay plan instead of the current Start, 3, 5 plan.
· Received slightly higher WIP payments for the four current sergeants.
Needless to say, the contract is somewhat complicated, but we think we have
a good package for council consideration and we will be present to discuss the
proposal on Monday evening.
Sergeant Union Contract Settlement
Start
after 3 yrs
after 5 yrs.
2OOO
~i~lli Monthly
115.00% 4,501.03
117.50% 4,598.88
119.50% 4,677.16
non-exempt
Start
after 2 years
after 4 years
2001
Monthly
3% on 1/1/01
4,636.06
4,736.85
4,817.47
non-exempt
2001
Monthly
6% at si.qnin.q
4,914.23
5,021.06
5,106.52
exempt
2OO2
Monthly
3% on 1/1/02
5,061.65
5,171.69
5,259.72
exempt
INDEX
ARTICLE II. RECOGNITION ................................................................................ 1
ARTICLE III. DEFINITIONS ................................................................................ 2
ARTICLE IV. E1VIPLOYER SECURITY ............................................................... 3
ARTICLE V. UNION SECURITY ......................................................................... 4
ARTICLE VI. EMPLOYEE RIGHTS - GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE ................... 4
ARTICLE VII. SAVINGS CLAUSE ...................................................................... 7
ARTICLE VIII. SENIORITY ................................................................................. 7
ARTICLE IX. DISC~LINE ................................................................................... 8
ARTICLE X. CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION ...............................................
ARTICLE XI. WORK SCHEDULES .............................................................
ARTICLE XII. OVERTIME .................................................................................. 9
ARTICLE XIII. COURT TIME ............................................................................. 9
ARTICLE XIV. INSURANCE ............................................................................. 10
ARTICLE XV. STANDBY PAY ......................................................................... 10
ARTICLE XVI. UNIFORMS ............................................................................... 10
ARTICLE XVII.
ARTICLE XVIII.
ARTICLE XIX.
ARTICLE XX.
ARTICLE XXI.
ARTICLE XXII.
INJURY ON DUTY .................................................................. 10
SICK LEAVE .......................................................................... 11
FUNERAL LEAVE .................................................................... 12
VACATION ................................................................................ 12
HOLIDAYS ............................................................................... 12
FALSE ARREST INSUtLiNCE ............................................... 13
ARTICLE XXm.
ARTICLE XXIV.
ARTICLE XXV.
ARTICLE XXVI.
ARTICLE XXVII.
ARTICLE XXVIII.
MILEAGE ALLOWANCE ...................................................... 13
COMPENSATORY TIME PROVISIONS ............................... 13
WAGES .................................................................................... 13
WAGE INCENTIVE PROGRAM ...........................................13
P.O.S.T. LICENSURE ........................................................... 14
WAIVER .............................................................................. 14
ARTICLE XXIX. DURATION ............................................................................ 14