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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/26/1970MINUTES _ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA June 26, 1970 - 7:30 P.M. City Hall Pledge Roll Call Present: Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Arthur F. Spring, ' Donald Q. Miller, Kenneth E. Schwartz City Staff Present: J. H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; H. Johnson, City Attorney; R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer; E. Rodgers, Police Chief 1. Mayor Schwartz explained that the purpose of this adjourned meeting was to meet and discuss with representatives of the City Police Officers Association their displeasure with th'e' Memorandum of Understanding arrived at by the City Employees' Association and the City. He continued by explaining the Charter provisions and responsibilities for personnel under the City Charter. Officer G. Grant, President of the Police Officers' Association introduced Sgt. N. Carmack, the negotiater representing the Police Officers' Association. Sgt. Carmack stated that the Police Officers' Association (POA) had entered the negotiations for wages and fringe benefits at a late date in the negotiations as there were many areas of dissatisfaction and the police officers felt their• problems had not been fairly reviewed icy the management group. He continued that he felt the negotiations were pretty far along prior to his taking part. There- ' fore, the POA-felt an outside mediator should be brought in to reconcile the differences.between the regular City employees and the POA so that the City work could proceed in harmony. Sgt. Carmack then introduced Mr. Chris Burdick, Attorney for PORAC and Lt. Dewhirst of the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office and an officer of PORAC. Mr. Burdick, attorney for PORAC, stated it was his_ opinion, after discussing the matter with Sgt. Carmack, that the City of San Luis Obispo had not met in good faith with representatives of the Police Department on salaries or other benefits. He further stated that the City's use of six specific cities for comparison was not really comparable for salaries. Also, he did not feel that the administration had treated the POA fairly. He stated it was his opinion that an impasse now existed and was caused by the City's poor offer for wages and fringe benefits for the police department. He felt that a third party should be'brought into the negotiations to try and conciliate the differences. He warned the City Council "that this is the year of'the cop and the Council had better put up." Mr. Burkick continued he was ready to bring in as many statewide officers of PORAC as necessary to show the'Council how the statewide police officers association felt about the San Luis Obispo Police Department receiving adequate compensation for their services. Sgt. Carmack told the-City Council he felt Mr. Burdick had summed up the feelings ' of the POA very fairly. Councilman Blake asked if the POA had withdrawn from the City Employees' Association. Sgt. Carmack stated that as of this time, the POA would withdraw from the City Employees' Association. He then presented to the City Council figures on what the cities of Monterey, Salinas, Lompoc and Santa Cruz had budgeted for the fiscal year 1970 -71 for salaries, educational incentive and overtime for their police officers. Sgt. Carmack continued that the City Police Officers' Associa- tion agreed with the City's offer for uniform allowance. They also agreed with the City's offer on overtime except on what should be defined as an emergency He continued that one of the key demands of the police department was for an City Council Minutes June 26, 1970 Page 2 educational incentive to recognize with additional money any improvement that an officer has made education wise.. For example, the acquisition by a police officer of an AA or BA degree should be recognized salarywise by the City Council. He continued that the officers assigned to the Detective section were dissatisfied with the differential presently paid for detective duties as they felt they were putting in an excessive amount of overtime that was not being compensated.for by.the City. Sgt. Carmack continued that the detectives would rather work straight time and be paid overtime when so ordered by competent ' authority. Sgt. Carmack then stated that all the San Luis Obispo POA wanted as far as standby was concerned was two hours pay for each eight hours of standby duty. The City has presently offered one hour's pay for.each eight hours of standby duty, with a minimum of two hours. R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer, briefed for the Council and the police officers, the.provisions of the 1970 -71 Memorandum of Agreement between the City and the City Employees' Association. Sgt. Carmack stated that the POA would accept the offer made by the City for holidays, overtime for court appearances and uniform allowance. Councilman Miller stated that he was the one who had encouraged the POA to go along with the City Employees' Association in the wage increases, as he felt the Employees!. Association would make a stronger point by representing all the employees. Further he stated he voted against the offer made by the City Council for a 7% increase. He continued he felt that the police officers needed more education in order to stay within the bounds of recent court decisions. He felt that extra knowledge should be compensated through an educational incentive of some kind. He further felt that overtime should be paid for with time and a half pay with no compensating time off. He continued that by paying time and a half for overtime, perhaps with proper management, overtime could be controlled, eliminating-this-extra cost to the City and imposition.upon its employees. He ' also felt that the standby pay requested by the POA was fair. Councilman Miller stated he.also felt that the City police department should not be required to handle riots and disturbances outside the City of San Luis Obispo. He further felt that the citizens-of San Luis Obispo could be proud of their police department as they are a good department and do a good job-. He again stated he felt the City Employees' kssociation.should have stuck to their original demands on the additional increase of 2.7 %. He stated that now he was sorry he had.urged.the.POA.to stay with the Employees' Association, in the hopes they would receive a good employee package. Councilman Spring felt all City employees should receive fair and adequate com- pensation for their services including the police officers. He continued that he had discussed the salary offer made by the City with citizens in the community, and the citizens felt the salary offer was fair and adequate. Councilman Blake stated he did not feel that the salary package offered by the City was inadequate. He felt that the City had met and conferred fairly with its employees. He further felt.that'except for educational benefits, some advance was made in.all.areas of salary and benefits such as overtime and uniform allowance, and that additional benefits would be considered in the future. He felt that everyone should keep in mind that all of the City employees should be considered. He felt that the employees who had signed the agreement on behalf of the Employees' Association may not have been entirely happy with it, but they felt it was a step up. Councilman Graham felt that an additional educational benefit program might be needed to encourage the.keeping of trained officers. City Council Minutes June 26, 1970 Page 3 Mayor Schwartz stated he took exception to the wild statement made by Mr. Burdick that the City had not met in good faith with the City employees to determine wages and fringe benefits. He felt that the City had met in good faith and further that no pressure had been placed upon the Employees' Association by the management group or the City Council to sign the agreement. He continued that the.City Council's management team kept the Council informed on a daily basis of the negotiations, including copies of proposals made by the police department. 1 Mayor. Schwartz also stated-he also objected to the statement made by Mr. Burdick "that 1970 was the.year of the cop and the Council had better put up." He felt this should be the yaar for all City employees to better their position and keep up with the cost of living. The Mayor also felt that the demands of all City employees had increased and that their responsibilities had been upgraded. Further he felt that the City Council's responsibility was to.all the employees of the City and to try and grant a fair salary and fringe package to all,employees and to give no advantage to a specific department. Lt. Dewhirst, Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office and an officer of PORAC, stated he felt that the City Council did not understand that the police department could negotiate as a separate group without other City employees. He also felt that this City Council made a mistake in trying to lump all employees into one salary package as he felt that the police were entitled to a more liberal package due to their training and responsibility. He stated that it was his understanding that many trained policemen were leaving the City of San Luis Obispo for other agencies that,pay more money. He felt this was quite a loss to the community. He felt thag the local police department was highly trained and well qualified. He again urged the City Council not to compare salaries of their regular employees with those of their police department as the police are a more highly. trained organization. Mayor Schwartz answered Lt. Dewhirst by stating that at no time does the City compare the various jobs of other employees to those in the police department, but that each position in the City is compared to similar positions in comparable cities. R. D. Millet, Administrative Officer explained the reason that the 12% rate increase was granted.to the police department in 1967. Sgt. Carmack again stated.that the police department objected to the City com- paring salaries with only six other cities and not on a statewide basis. He continued that their research indicated that the cost of living nationally was approximately 8 1/2% but that the City Administrator had quoted between 5% and 6% instead. He could not understand how these figures could be used without using the same comparison. R. D. Millet stated that the City administration had always conceded that the cost of living increase was somewhere between 5% and 7 %, taking into consideration the entire northern and southern California area. Sgt. Carmack stated that the POA does not agree with the Memorandum of Agreement signed by the City and the Employees' Association. He felt that the City should continue negotiations with the police department and grant them their demands. If the City would not do this, he felt a third party should be brought into the negotiations. He further felt that even though members of the police department belonged to the Employees' Association, at no.time did the Employees-' Association really represent the police department. Councilman Miller suggested that the POA stay with-the City Employees' Association and work within the organization. He felt that separate organizations- could not really gain the benefits they desire. Officer Gary Grant felt that the issue is not who is representing who, but how. much is to be paid to police officers by this City. He did not feel that fair- ness had been shown by the administration as they did not recognize the changes currently being made in the six comparison cities as of July 1, 1970. The com- parison was based on the changes made in July,- 1969. City Council Minutes June 26, 1970 Page 4 Sgt. Carmack stated he felt that a check of cities in the 20,000- 25,000 population bracket would show that the salary paid by the City of San Luis Obispo for police officers were nowhere near the average paid to police officers in cities of the same size. He continued he did not feel that the City of San Luis Obispo paid an adequate salary to their police officers. He further stated.that the San Luis Obispo police officers did not feel it was.a question of whether the City could or could not afford the suggested increase, since they felt the increase was necessary to keep adequately trained police officers and other items in the ' budget could be cut. Sgt. Carmack continued that.the 7% increase offered by the City only met last year's cost of living and did not take into consideration the increase in the cost of living from last year to this year. Mayor Schwartz stated that to his knowledge no agency in the County had received more than a 5% cost of living increase for the fiscal year 1970 -71. Officer Grant stated he did not care what the other employees received, as he was only interested in what he received so that he can put food on the table for his family. He also did not care what other agencies or cities paid their employees, as all he wanted to do was to receive the amount of money he felt would fairly justify the service he performs. Sgt. Carmack stated that the police officers in San Luis Obispo are all unhappy with their working conditions and would go to any length to get what they wanted, regardless of the consequence ;to the City and its citizens. Jack Wainscott, Battalion Chief for the Fire Department, stated that formerly the City negotiated with its employees for wages and fringe benefits in January and that all employee matters were settled prior to budget considerations by the Council. He felt under this system the City employees received better treatment and were in the upper median of comparable cities, but now when the salaries were negotiated later in the year the salaries for City employees were much lower than comparable cities. He added that he felt the police officers in San Luis Obispo, as a group, were treated better than any other ' employee group in the City. Officer Preston Simmons stated he would like to stay and live in San Luis Obispo but if he did not get an adequate salary increase he would have to move on to a better paying job. He continued that he was willing to give a little but he could not give up everything. He felt that a good salary schedule for police officers would keep a happy force. He stated he would stay in San Luis Obispo if the City approved the 12% increase. Councilman Blake stated he felt all City employees should be adequately compen- sated as all were excellent members of the community and they must all be con- sidered by the Council. He stated.that the Council had considered all the demands of the POA and Employees' Association. He stated that some were accepted, some modified and some rejected. He felt that the agreement reached was fair to all parties concerned. He felt that any matters not settled this year could be considered next year or•some future year. Officer Simmons urged the City Council not to pay the police department.the highest salary in the state, but to pay.them the average for a comparable city. He urged the Council to approve the 12% pay raise for the fiscal year 1970 -71 and then grant additional increases in future years in order to catch up with the cost of living. Bill Calloway, President of the Fireman's Association, stated that the Fireman's Association agreed that the City Employee's Association did represent them in negotiations for wages and fringe benefits. Sgt. Carmack stated that a 12% overall increase would be acceptable to the Police Officers' Association. Mrs.. Carmack, taxpayer, stated she felt the City Council should pay their police officers an adequate salary so that they could keep up with the cost of living. City Council Minutes June 26,'1970 Page 5 There being no further discussion, the meeting adjourned to executive session. On motion of Councilman Miller, seconded by Councilman Blake, the meeting adjourned to June 29, 1970 at 7:30 P.M. 1 APPROVED: August 24, 1970 1 1 J. fT A RICK, CITY CLERK