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Home My WebLink About05/26/1976MINUTES. ADJOURNED MEETING OF.THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN,LUIS..OBISPO WEDNESDAY, MAY 269 1976 - 12:05 P.M. CITY HALL Pledge Roll Call PRESENT: Myron..Graham,.T.. Keith-Gurnee, Jesse Norris, Steven Petterson and Ma�mr.Kenneth E. Schwartz City Staff . ABSENT: None PRESENT: J.H. Fitzpatrick, City.Clerk /Acting City Adminis- trator; R.D. Miller, City Administrator; H. Marquez, Special Assistant to Administrative Officer 1. R.D. Miller, Administrative Officer, presented to the City Council his four month management study and his recommendations for implementing his studies in San Luis Obispo. He then presented his proposal, including re- assignment of duties to some personnel.(see F -1051 for complete proposal). 2. On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded by Councilman Petterson, the City Administrative ,Officer was authorized to start recruitment pro- cedures for a City'Personhel Director. ' 3. The City Council discussed policy as it relates to parking tickets in the City of San Luis Obispo, particularly in the vicinity of the County Courthouse. The present problem came .up when the Municipal Court stopped pro- cessing City parking tickets because the Judges' felt the courts "lost money" on the deal,.because under state law, the County only received 219 of the parking fines and.the local judges felt-this was too little to pay for their cost. A.J. Shaw, City Attorney, in his letter dated November 14, 1975, stated that he did. -not believe-that the state law authorizes courts only to process items that show a profit to the court. He felt that the City would be suc- cessful in a court case in this matter, but it would be a long drawn out litigation. A.J. Shaw, said that in turning over the parking ticket collection to the City, the.county judges did not realize they were also giving up a great privilege, to the detriment of the City, of cancelling parking tickets for county employees, court attaches, attorneys, court reporters, witnesses;; jurors, etc. Since .assuming_the.administration of the parking ticket problem, the City staff has only dismissed.tickets when.they have been convinced that the ticket was issued-in error.. Therefore, the City Attorney felt the Council should adopt a policy for guidance of City staff in processing parking tickets, to include what should be-done with tickets issued to jurors, witnesses, court and county employees, etc. Councilman Norris left the meeting at 1:45 p.m. The City Council discussed.with the Police.Chief, parking..enforcement officers, Finance Department employees etc., existing parking enforcement.problems. On motion of Mayor Schwartz, seconded..by.Councilman Petterson that the City Council set a public hearing.on.July 19, 1976, to consider adoption of a Council policy on parking enforcement and consider elimination of all exemptions. Motion carried, Councilman Norris absent. City Council Minutes May 26, 1976 Page Two 4. At this time the City Council considered the request of Richard.A. Carsel, Attorney for the three-City employee groups, re- questing resolution on impasse in meet and confer-session on `following issues: 1) Whether salary negotiating sessions between the City and the employee associations.should either be open..to.the public or open to'an impartial, third -party observer who may report.to the:public. It is the position of the employee associations that the public,. as taxpayers,.should be permitted to attend and /or.observe.the negotiating process; and, 2) Whether. -the city will agree-to negotiate the salary. survey cities used as the basis for determining comparable - .employment. ..In other-words, at the present time.there are no ground rules and no guidelines available to the employee associations which may be..utilized to prepare salary..proposals. It is the.position of the employee associations..that.the.salary survey provided for in Section, 1405 of the City Charter should be jointly arrived at through.the negotiating process and that the joint survey should serve as the basis for developing salary proposals for all parties. A.J. Shaw, City Attorney, upon request of the City Council, submitted the. following opinion on the requested.impasse.by.R. Carsel on behalf of employee associations, and.for..the..reasons.set- forth, he-did not believe that the City was required.to grant.the request for an - impasse meeting on either issue. 1) The term "impasse" has a limited and specific definition as applied to employee negotiations. K. Impasse - means (1) a deadlock in,the.annual (or periodic).discussions between a majority representative and-the City over any matters concerning which they are required to meet and .confer in good faith, or over the scope of such subject matter; or..(2).any unresolved confer" item if the information , from the survey cities.was. somehow tied to a.'.'prevailing wage ".type of pro- vision, where the information.from the other-cities firmly. _tied the City to a commitment as to "wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment ". City.Charter._Section 1405 provides: "Section 1405.. Salary and Wage Survey. The City Administrative Officer may once each year,.- if.the Council approves, make or have made, a. study of salaries and wages being paid in other.compa- rable public and private.agencies,.in order.to .ascertain whether the.salaries and wages being paid the City officers and employees for similar work are comparable,.,and make recommendations,to. the City Council thereon." It.is clear that the salary.survey_in Section 1405 is purely optional. with the City. Furthermore, the City has.provided the employee organizations with surveys from the League of California_ Cities concerning other cities that the traditional survey cities, and that the City has offered to provide similar information from other cities tb the employee organizations as they may desire. Clearly then, the City is not limiting the discussions in the negotiations to just those survey cities selected by the City. If the..City were to negotiate the "survey cities" with the employee organi- zations, the.City could be ualawfully.delegating some of the authority given by the people to the Council "to ascertain whether the salaries and wages being paid the City officers and employees for similar work are comparable ". On the other hand, by agreeing to provide the employee organizations with ' such data as the City can.obtain from other cities, the City is fully com- plying with the good- faith.requirements of labor relations laws and-res- olutions. In summary, he did not believe that the bare request in Mr. Carsel's letter to negotiate the survey cities establishes the existence of a deadlock on a meet and confer matter. Therefore, it does not require the holding of an impasse meeting before the Council. City Council Minutes May 26, 1976 Page Three 2) The first "issue" requests either an open.public hearing or the presence-at executive bargaining sessions.of an "impartial, third party observer who reports to the public ". There is no authority in the law which would-permit-the-presence in executive sessions of any member of the.public or.press -who would "report to the public ". A meeting must be either wholly open or wholly closed. Fire Captain Calloway, spoke in support of the-impasse request of the three employee associations. He also felt that the Council should decide on a policy.of which cities the management.team and employee. associations could use to compare.salaries and..fringe benefits for City employees. It was-his sincere request that the City Council adopt a list of cities, using population, .area..per..capita tax etc., for compar- ison purposes, and that..the City Council allow an-averaging for City employees sslariee and benefits. He-urged, finally, a31_that the Fireman's Association.wants the Council to do is to.compare. salaries that are paid fireman--in thisCCity and -other cities and not compare with other positions. Sherri Ripa, President, General Employees Association, agreed with Captain Calloway's commentsthat. the City Council should direct the man- agement group to.- cooperate with the employees group and come up with a list of comparable cities in order to -see where our employees fit as far as salaries-and benefits.are concerned.- Councilman Petterson felt that.the City Council should accept Attorney - Shaw's position that an impasse does not exist. Councilman.Graham agreed that-Council should.accept..Attorney Shaw's opinion that no impasse exists. He also.stated.that.he-.felt the City ,has treated it's employees' fairly in past..years and would do the same this year. Councilman Gurnee. "agreed.,with_Attoraey Shaw.'s.opinion_ and felt that the City.Council cannot give away its rights to protect the taxpayers in controlling costs..and expenditures. On motion of Councilman Petterson,. seconded..by_Councilman Gurnee, the following resolution was introduced: Resolution No. 3063, a resolution of the Council of the City of San Luis Obispo rejecting impasse. Passed - -and adopted on the-following roll-call vote: AYES: Councilmen Petterson, Gurnee, Graham, Norris and Mayor Schwartz NOES: None -- ABSENT: None 5. City Council adjourned -to executive session. 6. On motion of Councilman Norris, seconded by.Mayor Schwartz, the meeting adjourned to 12:10 p.m., Woet es ,bJ,une 2, 1976. Motion carried. APPROVED: July 19, 1976 .H.. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk