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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/13/2000 Adjourned Meeting 382 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON JUNE 13, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING The City Council met in session on this date at 11:30 a.m., in Room G at the Convention Center, Yakima, Washington, Mayor Mary Place, presiding. Council Members Larry Mattson, John Puccinelli, and Henry Beauchamp, were present, Council Member Clarence Barnett, Lynn Buchanan, and Bernie Sims were absent and excused. Civil Service Commissioners Bill Wright, Tim Carlson, Bev Warren, and Jesse Cox were present. City staff members in attendance were: Dick Zais, City Manager; Marketa George Oliver, Administrative Assistant to the City Manager; Rita Anson, Director of Finance & Budget; Don Blesio, Police Chief; Al Gillespie, Fire Chief; Carol Bates, Chief Examiner; Paul McMurray, Assistant City Attorney; and Sheryl Smith, Deputy Personnel Officer. Mayor Place called the meeting to order at 11:30 a.m. MEETING WITH THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION Mayor Place welcomed everyone and provided some background information about the Civil Service Commission and the City's charter. She also spoke about how the Commission is funded. Commissioner Tim Carlson said that sometimes there is concern expressed about the budget, but there has never been a major dispute over it. He further stated that the Chief Examiner is supposed to be an agent of the Commission. Mr. Carlson, who is Chair of the Commission, explained how the Commission functions and discussed how the two Commissions were combined a few years ago. He said the Commission decides how people are hired by the City, classified, and compensated. He said the Commission monitors the system to make sure that people are paid fairly and classified correctly. As they go through the classification system, the Commission tries to insure people who are doing like work receive like pay. Mayor Place asked if the municipality's ability to pay was taken into consideration when setting salaries. Mr. Carlson said that the Commission does consider that when making decisions. Mayor Place asked when the Commission looks at comparables, if they also look at other benefits the employees are receiving. She said the City's benefits are awesome compared to the people working in private industry. Mr. Carlson confirmed the Commission does look at other benefits in addition to pay. City Manager Zais clarified that benefits are negotiable issues and the Commission focuses primarily on pay issues. 383 JUNE 13, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING Council Member Puccinelli said the Cost Of Living Adjustments (COLA) are based on percentages and by using a percentage the people with higher wages get a substantial raise and those in lower wages receive much less of a raise. He asked why it was not possible to give a dollar amount. Mr. Carlson explained that COLA's were outside of the scope of the Civil Service Commission. The. Commission looks at issues which are, by law, not subject to collective bargaining and COLA's are a subject of collective bargaining and ultimately determined by the City Council. Mr. Zais discussed compression and maintaining proper separation between the management employees and other employees. Mayor Place suggested the discussion re -focus on the issue of reclassifications. Mr. Carlson said that Carol Bates, Chief Examiner, generally walks the Commission through how a reclassification developed and how the need for it evolved. He said the Commission looks to see if the job has substantially changed. Mayor Place said she has a real problem with the idea that sometimes technology changes and is considered a substantial change; for example when someone used to type and now that person needs to use word processing. She said a change in technology is not necessarily a change in job descriptions and she had spoken with Ms. Bates about it several times. Mr. Carlson agreed. Mr. Carlson said that when doing a job survey, it is difficult to get responses, especially from the private sector. Therefore, the Commission relies heavily on other public sector comparables. Council Member Puccinelli said that if the City wants private sector employers to fill out a survey, then they need to be paid. They fill out many government forms and they get tired of it. Commissioner Bev Warren said everything the Commission does is public record and that is the most likely reason why the private sector employer does not want to respond because they may end up disclosing information they do not to or should not. Mayor Place said that the Commission was mandatory for Fire and asked whether it was for Police. Mr. Cox explained that there is the same language for Police in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). The Police and Fire Civil Service Commissions were created by RCW and the City Charter created the Commission for the other employees. There was discussion about the Commission's disciplinary record and Mr. Carlson said that he felt the action taken by the Commission had avoided lawsuits. 2 • 3 84 JUNE 13, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING Mayor Place asked if the Commission has the ability to address issues arising from State mandates such as the State's new Labor & Industries rules regarding ergonomics. Ms. Warren said there is a statewide meeting in the Fall, whether or not it is on the agenda she does not know. Mr. Carlson said that the implementation of that rule belongs with the management group and he sees the Commission's role as dealing with specific instances relating to implementation of any given rule. Mr. Wright said some reclassifications are employee initiated and the Commission has asked Ms. Bates to be sensitive to these items and not put them on the agenda until they have received supervisory approval. He thinks it is important for management to be sensitive to issues that are discussed around the water cooler. Sometimes, employees come before the Commission because of recruitment problems. When minimum requirements are so stringent that no one could qualify, employees come to the Commission and say they need to raise the wages so that qualified applicants would apply. Mr. Wright talked about the functions of the Police and Fire Civil Service Commission including holding hearings and handling classification and pay matters. He said it is not uncommon to have 500 or more applicants when the City tests for' Police Officer or Fire Fighter positions. City Manager Zais asked Ms. Bates to discuss what she does to obtain a good balance for an interview panel for position testing and Ms. Bates described the process. c r Ms. Warren suggested the Commissioners provide some background information. Ms. Warren said she had been a nurse for many years. Mr. Carlson said he had been a lawyer in town for approximately 20 years. His practice is in the area of business. Mr. Wright was with the Washington State Patrol for 10 years and then went with the State Department of Personnel for 20 years. Mr. Cox was in education for 30 years as a teacher, assistant principal and then in personnel. Mayor Place thanked the Civil Service Commissioners for their service and their time. City Manager Zais discussed the applicant tracking system briefly and said it may help with the Civil Service process. He also thanked the Civil Service Commission for their assistance during the layoff and adjustments related to the passage of Initiative 695. He said he thought it was handled fairly and humanely and was glad that of the 37 positions affected, only 3 people were actually laid off. 3 • 385 JUNE 13, 2000 • • ADJOURNED MEETING • The meeting adjourned at 1:20 P.M. to June 27th at 7:30 A.M. in the second floor training room at the Police Station /Legal Center. • / i ce , n READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: / % / I' , � / /r OU •UNCIL MEMBER IY`T • 1,/T0) • OUNCIL MEMBER A ATTEST: 0/ 01% . ,4<a)t12-1" '(/17/ CITY CLERK RY PLACE, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Marketa George Oliver. An audio tape of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office • • • 1 4