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02 City Council (8/28/03)MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 28, 2003 The City Council of the City of Paris met in special session, Thursday, August 28, 2003, 6:00 P.M. at Paris Junior College, Bobby R. Walters Applied Technology Building, Room 1206, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas. Mayor Curtis Fendley called the meeting to order with the following Council Members present: Jim Bell, Jay Guest, Francine Neeley, Willie Weekly, Sr., and Benny Plata, Also present were City Manager Michael E. Malone, City Attorney Larry W. Schenk, and City Clerk Mattie Cunningham. Mayor Fendley called for input from interested citizens of Paris proposing services of projects to be included in the 2003-2004 City of Paris Budget, and no one appeared. Mayor Fendley called for consideration of any additional changes to the budget for 2003-2004. He said that he knew that Fire Chief Ronnie Grooms had the additional information that had been requested by Council Members. Chief Grooms passed out a proposal and said he hoped it addressed all of Council's questions. Chief Grooms referred the City Council to the Table of contents of the information he had prepared, Section A, the proposal for the reduction of overtime funding through the addition of firefighters, and Section B, the Rank Restructuring Plan that he was asked to bring before the Council. Mayor Fendley said cut to the chase and tell them how many additional firefighters to reduce the overtime. Chief Grooms said it would take six firefighters to reduce the overtime. Chief Grooms said that when the question was proposed to him, he thought he would be able to answer it easily and he felt like there would have to be a lot of research to go in to actually determine how many would be feasible. Chief Grooms said they could add three additional firefighters and that would reduce overtime somewhat, but there are a lot of extenuating circumstances that have to be considered when you talk about the addition of firefighters. There is not a dollar for dollar trade off. If Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 2 they have an overtime budget for $280,000.00 and they hire an additional firefighter, it is going to cost approximately $40,000.00 total city expense. If six firefighters were hired that is $240,000.00 and you deduct $240,000.00 from $280,000.00 and we would save that much, but it does not necessarily work out even dollars for even dollars. He said they would still have to maintain an overtime budget no matter how many firefighters were hired. Each firefighter is due their time off and there is a certain amount of scheduled time off that they have got to have. There are injury and sick leaves and there are different things that need to be considered. Chief Grooms asked Council to look at the back four pages of the booklet. He had asked his Training Officer to research absenteeism with sick leave and injury leave for the last three fiscal years starting with 2000-2001. The result were these four pages. Absenteeism has drastically gone up. In the year 2000- 2001 (page 16) there were only 65 absences. These were days that were counted over three shifts. The number for 2001-2002 almost doubled at 129 absences. The present fiscal year is at 251 total shifts and the year is not complete. That proves that from year to year you can have injuries and sickness which may or may not occur in the next year. Chief Grooms said they need more firefighters. He said he would like to see four firefighters per apparatus to operate more effectively and safely. Safety is above everything else but he understands that there is a financial concern that needs to be considered. Chief Grooms said he included the Rank Restructure Plan and he tried to detail that as much as possible and the bottom line of that plan is on page 5. Table I that defines the plan and that is using calculations based on the number of firefighters that we have now actually it is one more because he completed this research using a full staff. Chief Grooms asked the Council to look at paragraph 6 which gives the estimated projected average for the automatic overtime including the new firefighters and that would be $53,847.00. He said the rank reconstruction plan starts on page 9. Chief Grooms said our current Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 3 ranking system is archaic and not in line with other fire services in the United States. He said that he and his staff officers would like to change it. To make this change they would have to implement a new position and put the Lieutenant position directly under the Deputy Chief. He would like to do away with the engineer position and move those firefighters to the Driver/Operator level and add more to that salary. Chief Grooms said that on page 11 you can see a better understanding what this task would take with the table shown on this page, and it would certainly amount to an increase cost to the budget to be able to do that. Firefighter, Driver, Engineer and Deputy Chief will be the ones that will be effective and they will all be effective with the automatic overtime. That whole table falls under paragraph D which is under automatic overtime. Chief Grooms said the optimum change would establish the position of Driver/Operator, which is self explanatory, as they actually drive the apparatus, setting the apparatus up and operating it. Then you would have a Lieutenant who would actually ride a jump seat on the apparatus and would actually be in the function of a firefighter, but he would supervise these crews or teams. He would not be forced to pump and it is hard to do those two jobs at the same time. Chief Grooms said this would give them a better capability of providing safety for a firefighter. Chief Grooms stressed that safety is one of the primary issues. We want to protect our people as much as we can. Implementing the Lieutenant position with the responsibility of supervision of the fire suppression group and making it subordinate to the Deputy Chief would help. There is a tremendous amount of administrative work to be done by the Deputy Chiefs. This would also free up some of the Chief's time to be able to do more administrative work. Mayor Fendley asked if the $300,546.19 figure on Page 15 already has overtime in it. Chief Grooms said this reduces the projected overtime budget by $180,000.00. What he projected and what he requested in his budget is to provide $280,000.00 for overtime. That is with no changes. If we hire the 6 firefighters, he felt we could reduce that proposal from $280,000.00 for Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 4 overtime to $100,000.00. He said that he and Mr. Anderson have talked about if it would be adequate, but he felt that he could probably operate with that. He said they could basically save $180,000.00, but you are going to have to spend more to do that. Councilman Bell said on page 15 of 15 there are three items with a total negative impact of $443,519.93 on the budget. He said that Chief Grooms said you take that $443,519.93 minus the $180,000.00 of overtime reduction to come up with $263,519,93 which would be the initial impact to the budget. That is based on the one year mark which would be roughly $30,000.00. Councilman Bell asked Chief Grooms if the city gave you a buffet of three items and said you can choose only one, which one would you choose. Chief Grooms said his number one priority as Fire Chief would be additional firefighters. Councilman Bell asked if he could choose two what would it be. Chief Grooms said additional firefighters and the Rank Restructure. Councilman Bell asked if these were more important that Seniority and Incentive. Chief Grooms said his primary goal in this budget was to salvage the five firefighters jobs and get back the firefighter that he lost. And there are a number of ways that can be done. It can be across the board percentage, which he has applied for of the 5% along with the Police Chief, and the EMS Director and they have proposed a 5% pay increase for emergency services this year and come back with a 5% increase for the next two years; however, he said that you can go in and do a rank restructuring and, by doing that, there will be some increases in some salaries, not all of them, but they will create a change in the salary structure by implementing the rank restructuring. Councilman Plata asked if the six firefighters are hired, will there be four people to a fire truck. Chief Grooms said they will do that as much as they can. Chief Grooms advised that they will be adding only two firefighters per shift. They will not be able to add four to all of the engines. Councilman Plata asked if two fire trucks will still roll to a fire. Chief Grooms answered if the parameters are right they will. He said that they would have three firefighters Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 5 on each engine and if you have two engines that will be six firefighters, the deputy chief, and most of the time you will have the rescue truck making a total of nine people at a fire. There will also be the EMS people. He said that is not too many people. He said that when they get to the scene they are doing all they can do in most cases to do the j ob that they need to do, and they are required to have two in and two out and they have to have people stationed for rescue purposes to protect their own. Chief Grooms said you are hiring two people per shift, but the Council has got to remember these people will have to have time off as we1L It is not like you hire those two firefighters and they work. These firefighters average 121 shifts a year, and you are not going to have those two firefighters present 121 shifts out of a year. Mayor Fendley asked Chief Grooms if the morale of the department will be better by having more firefighters and receiving less compensation and overtime. Chief Grooms advised that has been basically what he has gathered. They want firefighters, and certainly they like the overtime. Councilman Plata said his guess is the morale ofthe Fire Department is down because everything has been imposed on them. Councilman Plata said he could not see that it is going to help a whole lot. He said that it makes more sense to cut the firefighters like they did last year because you are going to have two fire trucks going to the same fire and that will be four people covering the 2 people in and 2 people out. Chief Grooms said that is not enough because you cannot physically operate with 4 people. Chief Grooms said he wanted to make sure that he understands correctly what Councilman Bell asked when he asked what his priorities were. That was based on his proposal, is that not true off of page 15. Councilman Bell said yes, off of a buffet, but if you have something that is better. Chief Grooms said that he thought that an increase of the 5% for three years is very important. Councilman Bell said that was not what he was saying. Mayor Fendley asked if Chief Grooms thought the overtime in the proposed budget is a better option Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 6 than going to his present proposal? Chief Grooms said the overtime budget has automatic overtime and as you hire more firefighters there will be more automatic overtime. Mayor Fendley asked the Chief for his recommendation. Chief Grooms advised that he thought his firefighters would rather have the 5% raise and continue to do the work than to have the six new firefighters. Councilwoman Neeley asked if the City Manager's proposed budget had a 5% or a 3.4% increase. Chief Grooms said the proposed budget has the 3.4%. Councilwoman Neeley asked Chief Grooms if his handout had the 5% figure. Chief Grooms said yes. Councilwoman Neeley asked if the city could afford three new firefighters and the rank restructure. Mayor Fendley advised that he would assume that the overtime would bounce back up. Mr. Anderson said that the rank restructure cost that Mr. Grooms has in his proposal is base pay differential only and it is going to be over $100,000.00 by the time you add benefits to it without making allowance for the additional overtime and that $84,000.00 is an understated figure. Chief Grooms asked to address Councilwoman Neeley's question. He advised that his training officer had researched their daily sheets and looked at the number of shifts that required overtime when two people were scheduled off and someone else called in sick or was injured that would have been reduced if there had been one more person on the staff. For 2001-2003 there were 91 shifts and from 2002 to the present there were 81 shifts. He added that the one extra person would also have to have time off. After further discussion, Councilman Bell requested that Chief Grooms and Mr. Anderson to look at hiring three additional firefighters and get a budget impact with the rank restructuring included. Councilman Bell said that this Council needs to consider possibly adding three Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 7 additional firefighters next year. He would like to propose to Mr. Malone that the budget process start as early as May with budget impact items such as this so the Council could begin to get the data. He said that this could be expense only information. Councilman Bell said that hiring three people will have an impact of $150,000.00. The rank restructure will be another $85,000.00 for a total of $240,000.00. This would result in the overtime budget being reduced from $280,000.00 to $180,000.00. Therefore the overall negative impact to the budget would be $135,000.00. Mr. Anderson pointed out that there are two people out on extended leave and when they return to work this temporary increase will go away by itself. Mr. Anderson asked Chief Grooms how many structure fires occurred last year. Chief Grooms said it was 150 and that does not include grass or vehicle fires. Councilman Plata said he was not in favor of adding the three firefighters if Chief Grooms cannot cut cost. Chief Grooms advised that he felt that the Council will see some savings, but not dollar for dollar because of the automatic overtime. Mayor Fendley said that City Council could also give everyone another percent raise for less money. Chief Grooms said he was in no way suggesting that his numbers are perfect because in trying to determine the automatic overtime, it was difficult to extrapolate those numbers. He told Council that he was giving them his best, conservative estimate. Mayor Fendley announced that the City Council would take a 10 minute break at 6:15 P.M. Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 8 Mayor Fendley reconvened the meeting at 6:25 P.M. Mayor Fendley asked Mr. Anderson if he had received anything from TML. Mr. Anderson said that he could not contact the person he needed but he thought he could have figures by next week. Councilman Plata wanted to know if they are going to finalize something now. Mayor Fendley advised that Council could make a recommendation and then after seeing the numbers make a final recommendation when they look at the total budget. Mayor Fendley said that they have talked about the health benefits and the retirement and they are going to run those numbers. Mr. Haynes has given the City Council information on the retirement system, which was a survey of cities by population. Mr. Anderson wanted to know his specific instructions on the retirement plan. Mayor Fendley said Councilman Plata wanted to look at going to 5% and a match by the city, or keep the 6% and go to a 4% match by the city, or cut it down from 12% to 10%. Mr. Anderson advised that the employee contribution cannot be less than 5%. Councilman Plata suggested going to 5% and cut the city's contribution back from 12% to 10%. Mr. Anderson said he did not think that could be done. Councilman Plata told Mr. Anderson to run the numbers and let the Council know what the figures would be with the employee contributing 5% and the city contributing 10%. Mr. Anderson said what he understood from the last meeting was the Council was going to come up with some number such as $425.00 or $450.00 and budget and they wanted him to go out and find a plan that is going to match up. Mayor Fendley said he though that TML was going to get him some numbers. Mr. Anderson said he would have those for the Council. Councilman Plata asked if the city is basing this budget on everyone getting a Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 9 3.43% raise. He said the Municipal Court Judge raises his salary by $3,000 each time and that is like a 5% salary increase from $46,000 to $48,000.00. City Manager Malone advised that the Judge is paid on an hourly basis and his pay is the same per hour, but there are more hours budgeted for the additional work. He does not get a cost of living increase. He is a contract employee and he is not in this pay plan. Councilman Bell said he had tried every way to figure a method of separating the employees out for raises. Councilman Bell said if he gives Mr. Malone a 3% raise it has a major dollar impact on the budget. Councilman Bell wanted to know what was the lowest starting paid employee that the city has and what does he make. Councilman Bell said he was going back to the question originally brought up by Councilwoman Neeley, when she wanted to know if they have to have equivalent raises from the lowest man to the highest man. He said he sees from the presentations by the Police and Fire Departments that the city has people in the low end and in the middle in. There are more employees in the middle that need more adjustment up because the starting salaries do not seem to be out of line. Those in the middle do not seem to be as competitive with other cities. Councilman Bell said he cannot speak as much about the high end because he has not analyzed whether Mr. Malone or even Mr. Anderson is under paid or over paid. City Manager Malone said the Council might do a compensation pay plan study. A study was done but there were questions from staff inembers as to whether it was valid. He did not know if staff will agree or if the Council will agree. City Manager Malone said a market survey could be done and you could find a variety of reasons why pay needs to be increased and then do it within the grade and step pay plan. He advised that not all employees are on a grade and step pay plan. The police and firefighters are civil service. They have a pay that they are hired at, and after one year they go to full pay for their position. Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 10 In the grade and step pay plan you are generally hired in at step 1 and within three years you progress through to step 5, which is the step that the market says that job is worth. The city experiences a savings over that three year period rather than hiring someone at step 5 and the only time they would do that is if they have a position that is classified lower than what the market is and the city is having a problem finding a person who has the skills for that j ob, they might hire somebody at a step 3, or step 4, or step 5, and not changing the pay plan. City Manager Malone said if the Council thinks that Maintenance Workers I are not fairly compensated with relation to what local industry pays, or somebody doing a similar job locally, then, you go in and you change their classification. You reclassify those employees, butyou have to be careful when you do that because there are other people that are in that grade and step who will look over there and say wait, there are reasons that they should be reclassified. He said if you want to be fair, you give a cost of living increase based on inflation to all employees by applying it to the pay plan or that position. If you want to consider the pay for an employee that is under paid after that is done, you reclassify that position. Mr. Anderson said to get up to market it takes three years. Mayor Fendley asked if that is one of the services that TML provides. Mr. Anderson said that they really do not provide that service, but they do a survey that the city looks at every year to try to analyze it ourselves. City Manager Malone noted that the city has some job titles that may be the same as other cities, but our people have more duties assigned to them. Mr. Anderson advised that the answer to Councilman Bell's question if $17,339.00 and goes up to $21,136.00 or that they start at $8.36 an hour and tops at $10.16 an hour. The city has one person in that slot. Councilman Bell wanted to clarify, because he thought he misunderstood, every employee from the lowest paid position to Larry Schenk contributes the percentage of retirement the council sets, and the city will match that two for Regular City Council Meeting August 28, 2003 Page 11 one. Councilwoman Neeley asked what the committee was going to look at. Mayor Fendley said their charge is to look at the over all benefits and/or sick leave, but they have not met yet. They are waiting to see what Mr. Haynes has found in his study. Councilman Plata said he would like to discuss the car allowances. Mayor Fendley said that we have a scheduled meeting for August 4, 2003, and they can schedule that meeting to start at 5:00 P.M. for the budget workshop, and consider the regular Planning and Zoning Items at 6:00 P.M. They will also meet at 5:00 P.M. on Monday, September 8, 2003. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem McCarthy, seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 6 ayes, 0 nays. CURTIS FENDLEY, MAYOR ATTEST: MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK