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02 City Council (9/29/03)MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL September 29, 2003 The City Council of the City of Paris met in special session, Monday, September 29, 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, Joe E. McCarthy, Francine Neeley, and Willie Weekly, Sr. Also present were City Manager Michael E. Malone, City Attorney Larry W. Schenk, and City Clerk Mattie Cunningham. ORDINANCE NO. 2003-044 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PARIS, PARIS, TEXAS, FIXING THE TAX RATE AND THE TAX LEVY AND LEVYING AD VALOREM TAXES FOR THE CITY OF PARIS FOR THE YEAR 2003 UPON ALL TAXABLE PROPERTY WITHIN THE CITY OF PARIS IN CONFORMITY WITH THE CHARTER PROVISIONS AND ORDINANCES OF THE CITY; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE, WAS PRESENTED. A motion was made by Councilman Bell, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem McCarthy, for adoption of the ordinance. The motion carried 6 ayes, 0 nays. Mayor Fendley announced that the Council would move down and take Agenda Item No. 4A, a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a Pipeline Crossing Agreement with Union Pacific Railroad Company granting a license to construct an 8" sanitary sewer pipeline crossing, and then they would come back to Agenda Item No. 3. Resolution No. 2003-159, approving the pipeline crossing agreement with Union Pacific Railroad Company, and authorizing and directing the Mayor to execute and the City Clerk to attest, on behalf of the City of Paris, a pipeline crossing agreement, was presented. A motion was made by Councilwoman Regular City Council Meeting September 29, 2003 Page 2 Neeley, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem McCarthy, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 6 ayes, 0 nays. There were no action required on Agenda Item No. 413, a resolution approving and authorizing a cooperative agreement between the City of Paris and the Paris Economic Development Corporation for painting a logo on the City' s new water tower, and Agenda Item No. 4C, a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a change order to the contract with Chicago Bridge & Iron Constructors, Inc., for painting a logo on the City's new water tower. Mayor Fendley announced that the Council would move back to Agenda Item No. 3, presentation regarding and consideration of possible action on personnel reclassifications for the Paris Police Department. Mayor Fendley said that this item was discussed at the last meeting and the City Council requested that Police Chief Louis put information together and bring it back to the Council for their consideration. Police Chief Louis came forward calling the City Council's attention to the proposal that he had presented to each of them. He said that during the budget workshops, he discussed the fact that they had conducted an analysis of comparison in pay between our city police officers and those of the cities of Sherman, Greenville, Dension, Bonham, and Mt. Pleasant. Police Chief Louis said that he has gone back and conducted analysis on their overtime and he feels they can reduce their overtime by $80,000.00. He advised that there are two existing openings in the department and they can reduce those two openings, keep those vacant and that will be another $80,000.00. Chief Louis said they can purchase one less vehicle than they wanted to, which will save them another $20,000.00 and cut their uniform account by $8,130.00 in order to accomplish everything they need to do to get the pay to an average. Police Chief Louis said this proposal would do place the pay of each rank of Recruit to the Assistant Chief at least to the average of the six cities that were surveyed. He said they could do this without costing the tax payers any Regular City Council Meeting September 29, 2003 Page 3 additional money this year or increasing their budget this year. Police Chief Louis said he is putting his proposal out here to let the Council see what they would be looking at, but actually, they would have to exchange $188,130.00 within their budget as it exist. Councilwoman Neeley asked if this is the Council's decision. Once they approve the budget and he has the money, is it not his responsibility to move it, shift it, and use it however he thinks is best. City Manager Malone advised that generally the reclassification is something that is done on recommendation of the City Manager. He said they make reclassifications sometimes within a budget year. He advised that when they talk about department-wide reclassification like this, normally that would be something that would be handled during the budget process. City Manager Malone said if they will recall, he was asked to present a no tax increase with a 3.43% cost of living increase for all employees. There were some savings identified through the shift that the Chief has implemented within his department and during the budget that was discussed. The Council chose to leave those funds in the budget with the understanding that they would determine whether or not those savings would actually be achieved since the Chief said that it was a short time that it has been in effect and he needed more time to examine that. City Manager Malone said the matter that is before the Council tonight is because Council had some interest in this innovative proposal that the Chief has put forward. Councilman Bell asked that it be placed on the agenda tonight. He said he received his copy this afternoon and felt that it would be something desirable in the sense that the city has employees throughout the various departments of the city that according to a survey that was done professionally about three years ago, they do have various employees throughout all departments that need to be reclassified. The City Manager said that was not done at the time because of the cost. All things being fairly done, any savings that anybody would have due to the management of the department would be put back into the budget then apportioned out by a recommendation Regular City Council Meeting September 29, 2003 Page 4 by a vote of the Council in the budget process. City Manager Malone said this proposal had arrived at this point in a little bit different way than ordinarily would be the case. Having said that, it is recognized that one area of compensation that moves forward at a faster pace than any other department, generally speaking, would be in the area of police compensation. It moves faster than Fire, EMS, or any other department generally. The City Manager said he did not have a current survey other than the information that the Chief provided from five cities. He said this proposal contains seniority steps and felt they should look at that from the standpoint of seniority pay being paid as an add-on, if that is what the Council chooses to do rather than a step. City Manager Malone advised the Council that the Police and Fire Departments are Civil Service and at the present time, the city is paying longevity pay in accordance with state law. The city also pays certificate pay, which is time, service and training combination, so they are getting benefits for time and service and training. This seniority pay, if that would be part of the proposal, could be an add-on like a certificate pay is an add-on, not a step, which he thought would be a preferable way of doing it. Tommy Haynes is the Civic Service Director and he is on vacation, so the Manager was unable to confer with him. City Manager Malone said they have not really had a chance look at the comparison of these other cities. He believed the Council wanted this on the agenda as an introduction to the topic and a discussion with a chance to provide input. This is certainly something of a magnitude that he would not just institute a reclassification of most of the members of one department unless it is a very small department, on his own. He felt this is something that needs some Council input. Councilwoman Neeley stated that she was not against this, but she was saying that in the time she has been on the Council, she has not seen them do anything Regular City Council Meeting September 29, 2003 Page 5 like this. To her, it was a departmental Manager thing. City Manager Malone said that there is no question that in this department, they have people leaving and they are leaving because of the pay issue. He felt that is something they need to take a look at and see what can be done, but there are other issues in other departments and he will be looking at them as well. Councilman Guest wanted to know what it would cost to update the wage survey that was done about three years ago. City Manager Malone said he had not priced that, but they could take a look at that. The new part time Personnel person can be utilized using that survey along with the one that is done by TML as well as any information that they can call other cities and get and perhaps update in that way. Mayor Fendley wanted to know if the reduction of those two vacant positions will be a permanent reduction. Chief Louis said that was correct. Councilwoman Neeley said that is not going to lead to more overtime by having to pick up what those other two officers would have been doing. Chief Louis said he had talked with his men in the department and they are willing to make the sacrifice and they know there is going to be some added responsibilities and work load on some of the officers, but they are willing to do this to try and get the pay up in the average. Mayor Pro Tem McCarthy said his concern was losing one car and wanted to know what is that going to do to public safety. Chief Louis said he had talked to the officers and supervisors and normally, they have one car assigned to a group of officers, but to accommodate trying to keep purchasing three vehicles instead of four, they are going to try to keep driving the vehicles that have the lower milage more in order to lengthen the durability of this vehicle. Councilman Bell asked Chief Louis and City Manager Malone if they were to sit down and look this over and decide this should be implemented, how long Regular City Council Meeting September 29, 2003 Page 6 would it take? Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, advised there are several mechanical things that have to be done, such as going in and changing the pay rates and determining how this additional pay will be done, whether it is going to be an add-on or a step. He said it was his understanding that the Civil Service would have to endorse the plan if it is done by seniority step, it could not be done without their approval. The time would be approximately 60 days. Mr. Anderson said he would like to review the documentation just to verify the numbers. He also wanted to look at what impact this will have on the other departments and what sort of pressure it would put on the city regarding treating the other employees with the same amount of fairness if the city did a survey and they also were due a reclassification. Mr. Anderson pointed out that the reduction of the car and uniforms is a one time savings and he would like to consider that impact whether or not that would be forcing the city into actually having to go up on the taxes next year. Mr. Anderson said he would like to consider what is the city's back up plan because that those of costs cannot be controlled to the extent where you can lock them in. Mayor Fendley said the Council has the information that summarizes where they are. There needs to be staff work done and it is going to take some time to come back with a recommendation for implementation, if this is the way the staff and administration want to go. He asked that they report back to the Council as to where they are and the City Manager and Chief Louis can bring back a recommendation to the City Council after working with Mr. Anderson. There being no further business, a motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem McCarthy, seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, to adjourn the meeting. CURTIS FENDLEY, MAYOR ATTEST: Regular City Council Meeting September 29, 2003 Page 7 MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK