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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.D.1. Adoption of 2015 Wages and an amendment to the Personnel Handbook for Paid on call Firefighters, Res. No. 7521 & 7524 General Business 10. D. 1. SHAKOI'EE TO: Mayor and City Council Mark McNeill, City Administrator FROM: Kris Wilson, Assistant City Administrator DATE: 12/02/2014 SUBJECT: Adoption of 2015 Wages and an Amendment to the Personnel Handbook for Paid-on-Call Firefighters -- Res. #7521 & #7524 (E) Action Sought The Council is asked to offer Resolution No. 7521, a resolution adopting the 2015 pay plan for part-time employees of the Shakopee Fire Department, and to offer Resolution No. 7524, a resolution amending the Personnel Handbook for Paid-on-Call Firefighters of the City of Shakopee, and move their adoption. Background As was noted at the Council's August 18 workshop meeting on the 2015 budget, personnel costs are a major component of the City's annual operating budget and there are several key issues impacting those costs for 2015. One of those is the need to address the hourly wage for paid-on-call firefighters. The City established an hourly wage of$10.00 for paid-on-call firefighters effective January 1, 2004. That amount has only increased once since that time -- to $10.50 on January 1, 2012. This has resulted in a wage that has lost substantial buying power and is well-below average for metro-area fire departments. Additionally, it allowed several antiquated pay policies regarding how the City counts hours worked and when it pays or doesn't pay a firefighter to continue. The City's pay policies for every category of employee should be clear and understandable to the employee, to supervisors, and to payroll staff-- but also to the public and taxpayers. The current way of doing things does not meet this standard. Therefore, I am recommending a substantial increase in the hourly wage for paid-on-call firefighters but with several key changes to the way hours are calculated and to when a firefighter is paid. For example, instead of rounding all calls up to the next full hour, as is currently done, the new policy would have all calls paid at a guaranteed minimum of one hour with time in excess of the first hour rounded to the nearest quarter hour. This, and the other proposed changes, will bring Shakopee's payroll policies more into alignment with the norm for metro-area fire departments. Along with these policy changes, it is recommended that the hourly wage for new hire firefighters be increased from $10.00 per hour to $13.00 per hour, and that the wage for those who have completed one-year of service or more be increased from $10.50 to $14.00 per hour. After analyzing calls for the first nine months of this year and determining what "would have been" had the proposed policies been in place, it has been determined that an increase of$1.00 is necessary specifically to offset the proposed policy changes, so that the City achieves the desired level of clarity and transparency without a net loss to the employees. The remainder is necessary in order to compensate for inflation and market conditions, and to make up for many years of stagnation in the wage amount. Lastly, it is recommended that the attendance incentive pay that was first implemented for 2012 be discontinued. This program provided an extra fifty cents, seventy-five cents or dollar per hour to employees that had attendance percentages above 50%, 60% and 75%. However, it has not shown the hoped for results in terms of generating better attendance. Therefore, Chief Coleman and I believe those funds can be better used to help offset the cost of the hourly wage increase. The proposed changes and reasoning behind them were outlined for firefighters at their November 17 staff meeting and all were given the opportunity to ask questions. There were some concerns expressed and not everyone in the Department is in favor of the proposed changes, however every effort was made to be open and transparent regarding the issue. Officer Pay In addition to establishing the hourly wage for paid-on-call firefighters, the Council is asked to authorize the salary levels for part-time officer positions. These are outlined in the attached Resolution No. 7521 and reflect no change from the current year-- for now. If the requested full-time Assistant Chief position is approved and once that hiring process has been completed, some re-organization of the paid-on-call officer positions will likely be needed. Those would be budget-neutral and brought forward mid-year. However, authorization to continue with the current positions and salary levels is needed in the meantime. Budget Impact The estimated cost of the proposed hourly wage increase is $62,000 for 2015, although this amount will depend on the number of calls for service in 2015 and the attendance rates of employees. Relationship to Vision Paying all employees a fair and competitive wage contributes to Goal E: Deliver effective and efficient public services by a staff of well-trained, caring and professional employees. Recommendation I recommend adoption of attached resolutions. Requested Action The Council is asked to offer Resolution No. 7521, a resolution adopting the 2015 pay plan for part-time employees of the Shakopee Fire Department, and to offer Resolution No. 7524, a resolution amending the Personnel Handbook for Paid-on-Call Firefighters of the City of Shakopee, and move their adoption. Attachments: Resolution No. 7521 Resolution No. 7524 RESOLUTION No. 7521 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE 2015 PAY PLAN FOR PART-TIME EMPLOYEES OF THE SHAKOPEE FIRE DEPARTMENT BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SHAKOPEE, MINNESOTA, that the City Administrator is hereby authorized to issue warrants upon the City Treasury from and after January 1, 2015 payable to officers of the Shakopee Fire Department, in the following amounts. Position Authorized# 2015 Salary Assistant Chief 1 $6,200 Deputy Chief of Training 1 $5,600 Deputy Chief of Engineering 1 $5,600 Captain 2 $3,000 Lieutenant 4 $2,500 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Administrator is hereby authorized to issue warrants upon the City Treasury from and after January 1, 2015 payable to paid-on-call firefighters, in the following amounts. Position New Hire After 12 mos. Paid-on-Call Firefighter $13.00 per hour $14.00 per hour BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all Resolutions in conflict with this resolution are hereby repealed and terminated effective January 1, 2015. Adopted in regular session of the City Council of the City of Shakopee, Minnesota, held this 2nd day of December, 2014. Mayor of the City of Shakopee ATTEST: City Clerk RESOLUTION No.7524 A RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 6807, A RESOLUTION ADOPTING A PERSONNEL HANDBOOK FOR PAID-ON-CALL FIREFIGHTERS OF THE CITY OF SHAKOPEE WHEREAS, Resolution No. 6807,a resolution adopting a Personnel Handbook for Paid-on-Call Firefighters of the City of Shakopee,was adopted on September 16, 2008, and WHEREAS,from time to time there is a need to modify such policies to best suit the needs of the City and its employees. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SHAKOPEE, MINNESOTA,that Chapter IV,Section A of the Personnel Handbook for Paid-on-Call Firefighters is hereby amended to read as follows: A. Wages. Employees shall be paid an hourly wage, of an amount established annually by the City Council, per call for responding to emergency calls for service and attending meetings, drills and other special details authorized required by the Fire Chief or his/her designee. (Hereafter the term "calls"shall be used to mean emergency calls for service plus drills,trainings and meetings.) The following policies shall be applied in the calculation of hours worked: a. All calls shall be paid for a minimum of one hour,with time for calls in excess of one hour being rounded up or down to the nearest quarter hour. b. For calls in excess of one hour, individual firefighters arriving late or departing early shall be paid for their time in attendance,which may be less than the total time from dispatch to clear time of a call, but shall still be subject to the one hour minimum. c. Emergency calls occurring during drill,training, meetings or any other paid event shall not be paid separately, but shall be included in the time paid for the drill,training, meeting or event. d. Overlapping calls shall be paid from the dispatch time of the first call to the clear time of the last call,with a guaranteed minimum of one hour and time in excess of one hour being rounded to the nearest quarter hour. e. Calls occurring within the same hour, but for which the first call was cleared prior to the second call being dispatched,shall be paid separately and shall be subject to a separate one hour minimum and the rounding policy noted above. f. Firefighters shall be paid only for those calls responded to and for which the firefighter was prepared to serve the public, as determined by the commanding officer on the call. Firefighters present at the fire station but not available to respond to the scene shall not sign-in to the call and shall not be paid or given attendance credit. g. Firefighters not in attendance at a call due to participation in another Fire Department sanctioned event or training may be given attendance credit for pension purposes, but shall not be paid for missed calls. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all previous Resolutions, as well as related policies and directives, in conflict with or adopted prior to this resolution are hereby repealed and terminated effective January 1, 2015. Adopted in regular session of the City Council of the City of Shakopee, Minnesota, held this 2"d day of December, 2014. Mayor of the City of Shakopee ATTEST: City Clerk