17-A Benefits Sub(12-09-03) - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Paris Council Benefits Subcommittee December 9, 2003 Page 6 them to come in or go get a doctor excuse. Chairman Guest said that under non civil service employees, you could have a no sick leave policy. City Attorney Schenk said if you want to have a disparate policy. Chairman Guest said there is nothing that they can do to ever bring parity, once a city has adopted civil service employees, short of recalling that in an election. He said they cannot continue to run the city for the rest of their lives trying to bring parity to civil service. City Attorney Schenk said as an example the city made an adjustment to the retirement fund and he will say, you are right, it was because of a different situation. Chairman Guest said and the circumstances that they know now, that might not have happened, especially given the circumstances that they learned last night. City Attorney Schenk said he thought the argument here, but the problem is it creates problems with the merit system. He advised that since he has been in this business, cities in general, try to come up with some means of at least trying to address parity or equity in what is being done. The City Attorney advised that it is not so much as necessarily parity as it is equity because sometimes you cannot equal what they have, but you have something else that is an offsetting or compensating factor. Chairman Guest said that the Emergency Medical Service is not Civil Service, but on the organizational chart the EMS is shown to be under the Fire Department. Fire Chief Grooms advised that they are not civil service. Chairman Guest said that was because they were not in existence when the civil service election was done in 1948. City Attorney Schenk said it is a different system and it is the way the statutes are set up. If a person is a dispatcher or a clerical person in the Police Department, they are not civil service. Chief Louis said that some of them are also firemen and they have joint training. City Attorney Schenk said that by and large the city does not have a level of expertise and he did not think the city has the j oint function that you have when you have them identified separately between the two functions. That is a policy choice. Terry Townsend, Director of Public Works, explained that in his departments, he follows the policy book. Mr. Townsend informed the board that he has taken disciplinary action several times and if he sees any type pattern the employee is