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12-03-1981 - Special '"" u u 0/ i :? CITY OF EDGEWATER CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING with MERIT BOARD December 3, 1981 A joint meeting of the City Council and the Merit Board was held in the Conference Area of the Community Center. Mr. Vic Vandergrifft, Chairman of the Merit Board called the meeting to order. ROLL CALL Vic Vandergrifft Jack Kropp Leroy Lewis Present Present Present Dolly Bloss Ron Scrivano Present Excused Mayor Christy said that under Ordinance 81-0-26 a Special Council Meeting is hereby called for December 3, 1981 at 7:30 P.M. in the Community Center Conference Area. The purpose of this meeting is to deliberate and decide upon matters pertaining to: (1) Changes in employee's Pension Plan; (2) Changes in employee's Personnel Rules; (3) Holiday Plans. The Mayor continued by pointing out that ,the touncil had requested a workshop at .the last regular .Council Meeting and he reaa exerpts from the minutes of that meeting. The Mayor then added that the meeting was called by the City Manager and not the Mayor so this is a workshop and not a special meeting. The City Attorney said that if this was an illegal meeting we were wasteing everybody's time. Councilman Lodico motioned to adjourn if this was an illegal meeting. There was no second to the motion. The City Attorney said "Again, for the record, and this is becoming redundant, we have ordinances that the City follows by duly enacting these ordinances and they are presumed valid until a court order declares them to be invalid. We have an ordinance on the books which provides that the City Manager, Acting Mayor, Vice Mayor or Mayor can call Council meetings. This meeting has been duly called, it is a legal meeting." Mayor Christy polled the Council as to whether or not the meeting should be continued. The Council indicated that they wished to continue with this meeting. Mayor Christy asked for a roll call. ROLL CALL Mayor Robert Christy Councilman David Ledbetter Councilman Jacob Lodico Councilman Wilbert Pendleton Councilman John Wilbur Present Excused Present Present Present City Atty. Clay Henderson City Clerk Nancy Blazi Police Chief Earl Baugh City Manager Joseph Mitchell Present Present Present Present Also present Mr. Jack Ascherl, Agent of Record for the City. Mr. Mitchell suggested that the Council discuss the pension improvements. There was a joint meeting of the Pension Boards on October 27, 1981 and these boards recommended unanimously to the Council that the vesting period be reduced from 10 years to 5 years for all employees and the disability eligibility peried for police departme~t be reduced from. five years to 0 years. He asked Mr. Ascherl to explain the plan and answer questions from Council. There was a discussion concerning the number of employees with at least 10 years service There ar~ no employees who are presently vested because the plan has only been in effect four years. Mr. Ascherl briefly explained the origin of the pension plan and the fact that due to costs the plan included basic benefits. The City can improve the benefits whenever they feel that there are sufficient funds. Retirement for general employees is 10 years of service and age 65. The pension is figured on the formula of 2% of pay X years of service. Councilman Lodico questioned the interest that was being paid on the invested funds and whether or not this was the best plan for the employees. There was a rather lengthy discussion involving Councilman Lodico's questions. It was pointed that the Pension Boards are made up of employees, elected officials, appointed officials and citizens of Edgewater. These boards have recommended these changes in the Pension Plan, when Councilman Wilbur asked how the employees felt about these changes. The additional cost of the plan would be approximately $2,051.00 for both general employees and police. Councilman Wilbur made a motion that the City accept the iive year vesting plan effective October 1, 1981, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. ~ , ~ ~ u The Council briefly discussed the reduction of the disability eligibility period five years to 0 years. The cost $1,715.00 would come from State funds. Councilman Pendleton motioned to change the police disability eligibility period from 5 to 0 years, seconded by Councilman Wilbur. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. for police, Mr. Ascherl explained the difficulty the City has been having getting the prescription cards for the employees. He apologized for the delay and stated that he had contacted most of the drugstores in the area and they would accept the present outdated cards until new ones could be issued. There was a five minute recess. Mr. Mitchell presented the Table of Infractions. This table has been presented to aDd approved by the Merit Board. At the present time, except for the Police Dept. there is little if any guidance for disciplinary action leaving the employees open to arbitrary action by any supervisor and leaving the supervisors and the city officials vulnerable in the event of a court suit. This table has also been reviewed by Department Heads. Mr. Copeland, Superintendent of Public Works, said that he believed his people were concerned with who made the decision on these things. Mr. Mitchell pointed out that there has been no change in the taking of disciplinary action. The original action is taken by the supervisor, then reviewed by the City Manager and is final unless it is appealed to the Merit Board. If the Merit Board's decision is appealed it goes to the Council and is then final unless it is taken to court. Councilman Pendleton questioned some of the infractions and indicated that some clarification should be made on certain infractions. It was brought out that the employees had not seen a copy of the infractions. Mr. Vandergrifft said that when the Merit Board held their meeting to discuss this recommendation there were no general employees present. Mr. Copeland asked at what point in disciplinary action would he go to the City Manager. Mr. Mitchell pointed out that the system the City uses now is in writing. The supervisor must prepare a personnel action and document the charges and sign it and have the employee sign it and then bring it to the City Manager, who will review it and approve or disapprove the action. Mr. Vandergrifft suggested that employees be given a copy and then discuss it with their supervisor. The supervisors will bring back the recommendations to the City Manager and then it will be brought back before the Merit Eoard. The Board would then make its recommendation to the Council., Councilman Wilbur motioned to accept Mr. Vandergrifft's suggestion and have copies given to each employee for recommendations to their supervisor and review by the City Manager and the supervisors, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. City Atty. Henderson informed the Council that the law has gone through significant changes concerning civil rights in the past few years. In Volusia County alone there are $10,000,000.00 worth of suits against governmental entities. A large percentage of these actions are personnel actions. The City needs to have some kind of objective standards. Councilman Wilbur made an amendment to his motion to have this information back to Council before the December 21st meeting, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. Upon roll call the amendment CARRIED 4-0. Upon roll call the original motion CARRIED 4-0. Officer Britain asked that the Merit Board give specific notification of meetings and what will be discussed at these meetings. He believes the employees should be given this information so that they may attend the meetings and give their input on personnel matters. Councilman Pendleton motioned that in case this can not be ready by Dec. 21st, he would like a special meeting called before the end of the year to get this settled, seconded by Councilman Lodico. Upon roll call motion CARRIED 4-0. The City Manager then asked the Council to consider some requests for Holiday plans. Plans are being made for a Christmas Party for the employees and the advisory board members. Donations have been made by local businessmen for the employee's part of the festivities but in order to keep board members from being accused of conflict of interest it is necessary for the City to fund the cost for the board members. It should be around $600.00 and there is money available in unspent accounts. Special Council/Merit Bd. Meeting 12/3/81 - 2 - . , . '-' u J Councilman Lodico motioned to approve funds for the advisory board Christmas party, seconded by Councilman Wilbur. Upon roll call motion CARRIED 3-1. Mayor Christy voted NO. The next item was a request by the employees to close City departments by noon Dec. 24th. Councilman Wilbur motioned to close City departments at noon on Dec. 24th, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. Upon roll call motion CARRIED 4-0. The next item was to approve a $10.00 bonus in the form of a market gift certificate for each employee. Councilman Wilbur motioned to approve the $10.00 bonus for each employee, seconded by Councilman Lodico. Mayor Christy said that he felt the bonus should be more and suggested that the motion be changed. Mr. Mitchell informed the Council that he believed they would all like to give a larger bonus but there are over 64 employees and then the Council must add the cost of the advisory board party plus the half day off before Christmas, unfortunately there just is not enough~ money in the budget for a lexger bonus. Upon roll call the motion for the $10.00 bonus CARRIED 3-1. Mayor Christy voted NO. Councilman Wilbur motioned to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. The meeting was adjourned. Minutes submitted by: " ' (I . ~~R?L~ Mayor v' /l. V /. l J-ct c" ~ I ~t?-7C-r --r? / ,.- ,Councilman - .. i / y l7-y- v Nancy Blazi Cecilia Moore t. "," ..,. ) - J - c~ ~( : '-t :JA)<lt~~Jo~ Councilman ~ t ~ 1', 80uncilman ~~ / .;.-/ ~I 1<, :; '. f ~ i't ";.... n... \' . " , ... of, ) ~ f , - ! . . ,~, .. ~ CJ ' ,~ " 1 (j \ .1'" qi'\\\\ ~ (/ I ,. ;;:YGilsed al5'jbd-!~ Councilman ATTEST: ~ ~~1./~..oI t' '-,/&~~ ~ City clerk? ~ ~ Approved thi~ / 1981. ~~~~ Mayor Special Council/Merit Bd. Meeting 1.'2/3/81 - 3 -