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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-10-2023 Union MinutesPresent: INTERNATIONAL IUPA OF POLICE ASSOCIATIONS, AFL/CIO MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING AUGUST 10, 2023 Nicholas Voglio, Union Representative, Locals 6054 and 6056, International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO Brian Benton, Interim City Manager, City of Sebastian Ken Killgore, Administrative Services Director/CFO, City of Sebastian Cynthia Watson, Human Services Director, City of Sebastian Terrence Pizutti, IUPA Union Representative Ken McDonough, IUPA Union Representative Matt Radock, IUPA Union Representative Janet Graham, Technical Writer The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m., and all parties identified themselves. Prior to the meeting getting started, Mr. Benton asked Mr. Voglio if he had received the email regarding Article 37. Mr. Voglio said that he did. Mr. Benton emphasized that it is not a 10% increase to the employee. It's a 10% increase covered totally by the City. Detective McDonough asked if everyone understands regarding the insurance and the 10%. Officer Radock said it was mentioned in this morning's meeting. Mr. Benton said there will be another meeting today at 6:30 p.m. for anyone who couldn't attend this morning's meeting. Mr. Voglio thanked the City for having this meeting pursuant to potential impact bargaining. He stated that it is honorable that we want to move the starting pay, which we did initially pursuant to the Evergreen study, from $40,000+ to $46,000. He is aware that the City wants to cut the starting salary from $46,000 to $50,000. During those several negotiations, the City was adamant to sticking to the Evergreen study in the first year, which was to address the compression issues. The Union acquiesced on that in exchange for settling years two and three. The union's concern now is about raising the starting salary with a set percentage of an increase. Our concern that we have now is related to raising the starting salary in less than a year from $46,000 to $50,000. He is concerned that this is going to put us back into almost the same compression issue. The purpose of the Evergreen study was to alleviate the compression issue. He stated that the employees that are in the middle years of service are going to have a bit of a compression issue. With that, he turned the meeting over to Detective McDonough and/or Officer Radock. Detective McDonough said that he thinks one of the reasons he wanted to have a meeting like this is so the union could get an idea of where the City was coming from. He reviewed how the issues were addressed in the past. Page 2 Officer Radock added some points to what Detective McDonough had said. He added that he understands the problem with compression, and it cannot be solved overnight. He asked if the City is looking at addressing this problem sometime down the road. Mr. Benton said that he and staff had some discussions about the compression issue, and it is the City's desire to address that. Right now, the starting salary is $46,000+. He understands that Sebastian was not getting people who would have been a good fit, but they went to other agencies because of the starting salaries. He said City staff had looked at neighboring communities in order to see where Sebastian is compared to those neighboring communities. It was discovered that our starting salary is approximately $4,000 to $5,000 less than those other communities. He wants to get the best officers that we can have. That is currently the case with the existing officers. He said that after running the numbers, it was obvious that those figures were not contained in this year's budget. He feels that the City can accommodate that number. Anything above that makes it really difficult for the City to meet. As far as what the City can do to address issues, he emphasized that this plan does not address the compression issues. That was not his plan going into this. His plan is to see what Sebastian can do in order to get the best officers we can into the agency. Looking ahead a few years, the compression issue can be addressed at that time. He may or may not be here at that time. Mr. Voglio stated that the problem we have is, by raising the starting pay so quickly, it creates a compression issue. He added that the union members do not want to sound ungrateful, but his people are here to see if we can mitigate the other problem that that is going to cause. He said that Terri Pizutti had some ideas regarding the starting salaries, and would the City consider those ideas, or consider slowing the starting salaries so as to avoid a negative impact. Officer Pizutti stated he does not have a proposal, and he understands this is a good - faith meeting. It is not a negotiation, and that is something the Board completely understands. His only concern is the $4,000 benefit. It is great for the lower -end employees, but compression is being damaged. He suggested instead of the $4,000 amount, look at and see if the 8.7% across the board for each employee would work. He recalled that the most recent negotiations were difficult, and he does not want to see that same thing happen over the next couple of years. He feels that the 8.7% would be able to keep us at a baseline instead of putting us into a percentage deficit heading towards the next negotiations. Mr. Benton said he will address the first item that was brought up by Mr. Voglio by addressing the pay increase for the starting salary being in increments--$48,000 this year, $50,000 the following year. At the end of two years, you're still in the same boat because starting pay is still coming up to $50,000, and you are going to get your $4,000 this year and your $5,000 the following year. So, you're still in the same area. His opinion is we Page 3 are going to go forward with the $50,000 as the starting salary. He does not have in front of him numbers that verify what the numbers would be at 8.7% across the board. It gets really difficult when you get to the higher -end salaries. He is not comfortable going in the direction of the 8.7% based on what our current budget is. He cannot repeat verbatim what was said at the City Council meeting. He knows what was said before that meeting during the budget discussions. He feels what we are doing is right. He is very sensitive to the compression issue. This discussion is not to solve that at this time. This is to solve a starting salary issue while not just giving every employee 5%, making sure that we are doing our best to give employees as much above the $4,000 as we can. He emphasized that it is not just the Police Department that we are looking at; we are looking at City wide regarding this issue. He knows Ms. Watson has spent the last two weeks looking at it, and he has also spent some time looking at it. He does not know what this is going to do to our existing budget. Mr. Voglio asked if he understands that the original proposal idea was to be the Police Department only, and City Council said it needed to be done across the board. Mr. Benton said his original understanding was that it was to be a Police Department only for this year because he knew that there were concerns with being able to recruit officers and get quality officers to this agency. Then he knew that obviously we would have to look at the other union as well. He emphasized that we have the same issue with both groups. He thinks it benefits the entire agency when we can bring in new officers that supplement what we already have. Officer Radock added that we want to be able to retain the new hires as well. Detective McDonough added that the department should be one that new hires want to stay at. Mr. Voglio is aware that the City was generous in offering the $4,000 or the 5%, whichever is greater. He questioned if there is any leeway that the City has where the pot can be sweetened, so to speak. Once again, he feels that by raising it so quickly, it impacts the younger officers. He asked if there is any way that the City can increase the $4,000. Mr. Benton emphasized once more that the purpose of this meeting is not to have a negotiation per se. He said the City has heard the concerns. He will take the brunt of bringing this up. It did not come from anyone else other than Mr. Benton. He felt that it was something that the City could look at, and it would be a positive thing for the agency. Mr. Voglio emphasized that his people are not saying no to the $4,000. He added that they appreciate the fact that you will look at it, and if there is more that can be done, great. And if there is nothing more that can be done, the union will certainly look at it again. Page 4 Detective McDonough wanted to emphasize once more that his board represents the entire union. He thought the best thing to do was to sit down with the City and let you know our concerns so that everyone was on the same page. He also stated that when the union asks for more, there is a reason for it. He feels that the union came to the City in good faith, and we wanted to let you know what our concerns are. Mr. Benton stated that he appreciates the opportunity to have this opportunity for both sides to present their thoughts. He added that City Council supports every member of this Police Department. He also supports every member of the Department. Mr. Voglio asked if Mr. Benton thinks that the City employees will also benefit from what was discussed at this meeting. Mr. Benton clarified that the Police Department was at the top of his list, and the direction from City Council was to look at the other City employees also. However, as of now he has no information on that group. Mr. Benton reminded the union representatives that there will be another meeting this evening at 6:30 p.m. Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m. j9