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Meet and Confer Minutes - 05/07/2014 MEET AND CONFER CITY OF WICHITA FALLS & WICHITA FALLS FIRE DEPARTMENT MAY 7, 2014 Attendees: City Administration Darron Leiker, City Manager Jim Dockery, Assistant City Manager/CFO Jon Reese, Interim Fire Chief Julia Vasquez, First Assistant City Attorney Linda Merrill, Recording Secretary International Association of Firefighters, Local 432 Fire Marshal/Battalion Chief David Collins Lt. Cary Richie Lt. Bruce Deeb F.E.O. Bobby Whiteley F.E.O. Corky Scarbrough 1. CALL TO ORDER. Darron Leiker called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. 2. DISCUSSION OF FIRE DEPARTMENT ISSUES Budget Lt. Bruce Deeb said Dr. Shao of Midwestern State University prepared this survey. Bobby Whiteley added that the numbers were obtained from Tammy Guerra before she left the City. Lt. Deeb said the Association's number one issue is pay. The Department is behind and continuing to fall behind comparable Texas cities. Wichita Falls has 15 steps in its pay plan for firefighters. The average for comparable cities is 8.3 steps. In Wichita Falls' plan, there is an $833 difference between steps, but an average of$1,500 between steps in the comparable cities. The Association's number two issue is retaining firefighters. A decrease in steps and an increase in the dollar amount between steps would help retention. Chief Foster had claimed the Department's retention rate was one of the best. However, out of 150 firefighters, 60-80 of them are over the age of 36 and/or have made rank and are not going anywhere. From the last five years of rookie classes, the Department has lost 37% of its employees. Darron Leiker asked if the survey revealed the reasons for those members' departures. Lt. Deeb said it did not. H:\ Legal Personnel\MMeet&Confer\Fire\Minutes\2014.5.7.Minutes.Fire.M&C.Doc MEET&CONFER-CWF &WFFD MAY 7, 2014 2 Mr. Leiker asked if the data used is straight aggregate or if it was adjusted for a geographical cost of living difference. Lt. Deeb said it was adjusted; they used Ms. Guerra's information that included the multipliers. Jim Dockery said the City does a salary survey annually. There will probably be an even bigger gap since it could not provide a cost of living adjustment and probably several of those comparable cities did so. FEO Whiteley said the Association's goal is to get to average. Mr. Dockery replied the City was pretty close before the economic downturn forced the end of step and cost-of-living adjustments. Lt. Deeb said once a firefighter has made rank, they are maxed out within five years. Mr. Dockery said that situation is City-wide, but higher in the police and fire departments because there are fewer steps once the members have made rank in order to stop the overlap. A situation can arise where one member stays a firefighter for a long time, while another member promotes quickly. That member could potentially be an FEO making less money than the long-time firefighter. Mr. Leiker asked how other cities combat the compression. Lt. Deeb said other cities had 4-5 steps for firefighter. Once a member made rank, each rank made 10% more than the rank below. Mr. Dockery said the beginning pay and ending pay in all areas of the City have fallen behind. Mr. Leiker said that the Mayor and Council are aware that this is an important issue and have shown an interest in trying to address the pay issue this year. Residency FEO Whiteley said the residency policy could be tweaked to help retain members. The Association would like to see it relaxed, even for a trial period. Cities in the Metroplex and South Texas do not even have a residency policy. Mr. Dockery said the main reason for the policy is for emergencies, and the Fire Department is in the emergency business. He asked how a relaxed policy would impact the Department's reaction time to disasters. Another aspect of the policy, Mr. Leiker added, is that member salaries are paid by Wichita Falls taxpayers, and the City would like to see its employees contribute to that. FEO Whiteley said the relaxation of the policy would probably only affect a small number of members. FEO Corky Scarbrough said it could be an advantage to have a fresh group of people coming to an emergency situation an hour later. Lt. Deeb said it could conceivably take him one hour to get to an emergency from his home in Burkburnett, if he had to get his gear from Station 8 on Southwest Parkway and then respond to an emergency on the north side of town. Mr. Dockery noted that the Association's survey did not include longevity. That pay is probably a lot higher in Wichita Falls than in other cities. It will not change the big MEET& CONFER-CWF &WFFD MAY 7, 2014 3 picture, but some cities offer only the minimum civil service requirement. Lt. Deeb agreed that longevity can make the difference in some pay overlap. Mr. Leiker said a pay raise may take a tax increase, and that is a Council decision. Citizens and businesses will also be facing an approximate 30% water rate increase this year. FEO Whiteley said the Association typically touts staffing as its number one goal. But members now say salaries are most important. Mr. Leiker agreed; the staff is not advocating any new employees or programs in the budget. Mr. Dockery said everything will be stripped out of the budget this year and the focus will be on salaries, unless there is a mandate that requires otherwise. Mr. Leiker said he is starting his budget meetings next week. A pre-budget workshop with the Council will be held at the second Council meeting in July. Staff will devote a large portion of its presentation to pay. They will get Council feedback, and his preliminary budget will be presented to the Council in August, with final adoption in September. FEO Whiteley said they are open to a two-to-three year solution. Mr. Leiker said Mayor Barham mentioned such a phase-in. But a budget can only be adopted for one year at a time. Councils change; other requirements materialize. It can be a goal, but no commitment for anything beyond a year at a time. FEO Whiteley said a meet and confer agreement could be drafted. Julia Vasquez replied that she has never seen a multi-year agreement; the bargaining units typically would not want that. Mr. Leiker said the City's two chief revenue sources are property and sales taxes. The property tax estimate from the Appraisal District showed only a 1.1% growth. That figure will be certified in July, but he does not see that changing. The City suffered two months in a row of negative returns of sales tax receipts. Luckily, May's payment was up about five percent. Mr. Dockery said that is almost 3% ahead of last year. Contracts FEO Whiteley said rookies sign a contract that they will reimburse the City for certain expenses should they leave before the end of four years' employment. The Association is concerned that the City's efforts to collect on these contracts is not applied evenly across the board. Mr. Dockery said the City has not been successful in its collection efforts. However, there is thought now to withholding money from the terminal pay check of unused vacation and sick time. He realizes that these newer employees may not have a lot of time accrued, and that civil service protects some of that income. But it is a debt they owe, and he hopes to put it in a contract that would give the City the ability to collect that money. MEET&CONFER-CWF&WFFD MAY 7, 2014 4 Ms. Vasquez said the agreement will be substantially different for the next class. The contract has to be signed at the time of hire. That is the mutual consideration for the contract — in exchange for the City hiring them as a firefighter, they agree to pay training costs at a prorated basis for four years. Chief Reese said it is important that the rookies know going in that this will be a requirement. Mr. Leiker agreed, stating it is simply common sense full disclosure. Ms. Vasquez said the P17 needs to be flagged if the departing member is from the police or fire department with less than four years of service. Mr. Dockery said Human Resources will police that issue. Chief Reese said it is important to start fresh; there are items included in the reimbursement list that should not be included. Ms. Vasquez said the Fire Department put that list together. Mr. Leiker said he is confident this issue can be worked out. Fire Chief FEO Whiteley continued, stating that the Association requests to either (1) be present as observers during the Fire Chief interviews, or (2) be given the names of the finalists so that they may conduct a background investigation. Mr. Leiker said his first inclination is to deny the request to attend the interviews. He has a competent interview team, including Mayor Barham. Mr. Leiker said one of his chief duties is to hire department heads. This position has to be confirmed by the City Council. He may be open to some interaction. If the Association is given the names of the applicants, he would want to see the results of any investigation. FEO Whiteley agreed. Mr. Leiker said they are down to six applicants and should schedule interviews later this month. Mr. Dockery said the City would want to make sure the candidates knew ahead of time before any list is released. A lot of applicants want confidentiality as long as possible. It is premature to turn over a list now because there has been no confirmation with candidates that they will be interviewed. Ms. Vasquez said the media may ask for a list of the applicants under the Open Records Act. Mr. Dockery agreed, adding that the City only has to provide the names of finalists. Fill the Boot FEO Scarbrough said the Fill the Boot campaign is next week. It is the fourth year of going out while on duty. They raised $63,000 last year. He thanked Mr. Leiker for allowing this to happen. Mr. Leiker said it paints the department in a good light, is good for the City organization and a great project. 3. ADJOURN Mr. Leiker noted he will be in touch about the Fire Chief issue. Budget-wise, he urged the Association to keep the timeline in mind. It will go pretty quickly. He thanked everyone for their time. The meeting adjourned at 3:05 p.m.