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Meet and Confer Minutes - 04/25/2022 Meet and Confer City of Wichita Falls and the International Association of Firefighters, Local 432 April 25, 2022 Attendees: City Council Bobby Whitely, Councilor at Large/Mayor Pro-Tem City Administration Darron Leiker, City Manager Paul Menzies, Assistant City Manager Blake Jurecek, Assistant City Manager Ken Prillaman, Fire Chief Donald Hughes, Assistant Fire Chief Julia Vasquez, Deputy City Attorney Christi Klyn, HR Director/Civil Service Director Jessica Williams, CFO/Director of Finance Susan White, Accounting& Budget Manager Holly Morgan, HR/EBT Specialist Paige Lessor, Recording Secretary International Association of Firefighters, Local 432 Al Vitolo, President/Captain Cody Melton, Vice President/Fire Marshal Trent Mays, Secretary-Treasurer/Captain Brandon Wright, V.P. at Large/Firefighter Jon Bradley, Shift V.P./Firefighter Ray Wood, Pension Chairman/Captain Chris Duncan, Pension Fund Plan Administrator/Captain Mr. Darron Leiker called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Introduction Mr. Leiker welcomed everyone to the meeting, and the participants introduced themselves. 1. Review Meet & Confer Process. Mr. Leiker described the creation of Meet & Confer, explaining that it began with an election in May 2006 in which the Wichita Falls voters approved a ballot proposition that authorized the Meet & Confer with Local 432 of the Fire Department IAFF. Then City Council approved a resolution in July 2006 that outlined how the Meet & Confer process would be conducted. Meet& Confer formally recognizes 432 as the fire department's bargaining agent and Page 1 of 7 Fire Meet&Confer Minutes 04/25/2022 establishes a meeting process with the City Manager. The resolution also designates the City Manager to represent the City in these meetings. The City Manager brings representatives from H.R., Finance, and Legal to provide technical assistance. Mr. Leiker asked if there were any questions, and no questions were asked. 2. Retirement Contribution. Mr. Vitolo stated that it is the Association's position that it would like to see the City's pension contributions to the Wichita Falls Firemen's Relief and Retirement Fund equal to the contribution received by other city employees. He stated that all other city employees had seen the contribution rate increase, creating inequity in benefits received. Mr. Vitolo further noted the Association has attempted to remedy this issue through multiple means. They have remained very positive throughout the process and are addressing the issue early in the budget process this year. Mr. Leiker responded by addressing items stated in the Association's memo with which he disagreed and wanted them clarified. He explained that contrary to the statement made in the memo, firefighters were not the only employees that did not get a contribution rate increase when the TMRS rate was adjusted for non-civil service employees.Police also did not see a rate increase. Mr. Leiker explained that the City had a hybrid approach to TMRS or two different plans. And at that time, Wichita Falls was the only City of its size in the state that TMRS allowed to use the hybrid system. Police employees were at the rate of 7%and a 2 to 1 match. All other employees were at a rate of 5% and a 2 to 1 match. When the City gave COLAs for F.Y. 2020, Police and Fire received a 5% COLA, and all non-public safety employees only received a 2% COLA. That 3%differential was to pay the additional cost of TMRS contributions.Now everyone is at the same TMRS contribution rate, the employee pays 7%, and the City matches that contribution at a rate of 2 to 1, contributing 14%to each employee's account. Mr. Vitolo responded by stating that he came to different conclusions based on information he read from documents published by the City. He noted that everyone understood that non-civil service employees received a COLA to allow for the increased TMRS contribution without their pay being cut. He further expressed concern over the City increasing the TMRS contribution from 12.77%to 16.32%. Mr. Leiker stated that he believed the confusion could be because the fire department contributes to a totally separate retirement system from all other city employees. TMRS is not a pension plan but rather more akin to a 401K. TMRS does an actuarial each year and sends the City a rate that reflects what is needed for the plan to stay solvent. The rate could increase or decrease. The employees that contribute to TMRS receive the benefit of their own contribution of 7%, the City's matching contribution of 14%, and generally 5%interest earned on those contributions. Mr. Leiker further explained that the rate increased in 2020 because before that time, the City was only contributing 10%for non-civil service employees, but the City was putting 14% in for police, so the blended rate equaled 12.77%. The blended rate was increased by approximately 3%to move all city employees up to 14%. Mr. Vitolo stated that Mr. Leiker's explanation was clear to him. Still, the Association's position is that every employee has equal retirement benefits except for Fire, which is an inequity. Mr. Leiker stated he understood that position and that the Association wants parity with TMRS. Page 2 of 7 Fire Meet&Confer Minutes 04/25/2022 The members want the city budget to allocate the same percentage to the firefighters for retirement as everyone else. He stated that he would commit to the Association to try and find a way in the budget to add the extra 3% contribution to the pension. It will be an increase of $375,000 and $400,000 per year. He said his goal is to ensure the fire pension plan is healthy for everyone's benefit. Mr. Leiker further stated that the fire pension plan funds are not at the level they need to be, and the state's pension review board is in the process of an intensive evaluation with the hope of completing a report by October. Additionally, the firefighters' pension plan is also doing an actuarial this year. So there will be two sets of eyes on this situation. He believes those two reports will show that it will take more than 3% to get the fund where it needs to be, so he asked for the Association's help to shore up the pension plan. Mr. Leiker reiterated that he would try everything to find a way to fit that 3%increase into the budget to recommend to Council, but it would be up to Council to approve that increase. However, Mr. Leiker asked if 3%was not enough to get the fund where it needed to be, would the Association's members be willing to increase their contributions? Mr. Vitolo expressed gratitude and stated that the Association is willing to do what it has to do, and the 3%increase will encourage the Association to increase its contribution. He said they still needed to meet with the pension review board in Austin, but they are willing to do what they must do. Mr. Leiker stated he believed everyone would share the goal of doing what is necessary to shore up the plan to ensure it would be there for the current and future firefighters. He said he did not want to wait to make the necessary changes because he would not want something to happen in the future that would cause the City to have to bail out the plan by spending millions of dollars. Mr. Leiker discussed making minor changes to the plan early along the way, so everyone is not trying to fix something that is already broken. He stated that there would be some feedback and guidance from the plan's actuarial folks and the pension review board. He hoped the Association and the pension board would take additional steps if it were shown that it would take more than 3%to shore up the plan. He said it would be great if 3% is all it would take, but his gut feeling is that it will take a little more. Mr. Leiker asked if there were any other questions or comments. Fire Marshall Cody Melton said there is a direct correlation between employer contributions and amortization. And there is a difference of up to 8% between Wichita Falls and all of the MAG Study peers. He believes increasing contributions may not resolve the entire issue, but it is a step in the right direction. Captain Mays stated that it was unfortunate they missed out on the last three years of gains, but 3% will help drastically, especially if the returns continue to go the way they are. Mr. Leiker stated that PRB would look at all the assumed rates of returns. He said that the rate seemed a little high compared to TMRS, so there may be some negative things that will need to be changed. Captain Mays said they had already made some changes and knew they couldn't do it all at once, but they are committed and appreciate all the help they can get. He appreciated the City for being willing to help and felt like it was a team effort. 3. Staffing Levels. Page 3 of 7 Fire Meet&Confer Minutes 04/25/2022 Captain Vitolo stated that Chief Prillaman approached the city council in February and received approval to apply for a SAFER Grant. The Association supported the grant; their only complaint was that the Chief asked for six guys instead of 12. He stated that the Association would like to see their units staffed according to the National Staffing Standard, four men per company. He asked that if a staffing increase is being considered,the increase be tied to the minimum staffing number of four guys on the single company units rather than just increasing the number of staff. Mr. Leiker said he thinks Council will be under immense pressure to lower the tax rate because of the assistance of the valuation increases that are likely to be seen. Citizens will demand to have the tax rate rolled back. After discussing the potential $400,000 price tag on the pension, if there is an increased minimum manning, it will not help the overtime situation. He said there is no guarantee that the City will get any new staffing positions. The SAFER Grant is very competitive, and it would be tough to add positions and raise pay and pension contributions if the grant isn't awarded. Public safety, including police and Fire, consume more than 100% of all the property tax paid in Wichita Falls. Mr. Leiker stated that weighing finite resources against needs is always a dilemma, but he would consider the Association's comments. Mr. Leiker said he didn't think anyone would hear about the SAFER grant for several months, and Chief Prillaman said he hoped to hear something in September. Mr. Leiker said six new firefighters were added at a relatively high cost to help with the "two in, two out" mandate. The minimum staffing was adjusted at that time as well. He stated that he did not think the City was compromising public or firefighter safety concerning the mandate. Captain Vitolo stated that he understood Mr. Leiker's position. Still, he has an obligation to the members of the Association to talk about minimum staffing and national staffing standards any time staffing is discussed, and he would discuss it every time with understanding. Chief Prillaman said that the Association had been good about interacting with him, and they are on the same page concerning single engine companies. But they are on different pages for changing the minimum only because of the priority assigned to reducing the overtime expense to the City. If the roster and the minimum are increased, nothing is done to reduce overtime, which equals almost $1,000,000 per year. This amount is $500,000 to $600,000 over budget. He stated that, at least for this round, his focus is to resolve the single-engine companies and address overtime. He said the department and the City don't have the resources desired at any given time. Chief Prillaman and Mr. Leiker agreed that they hoped to be awarded the SAFER Grant. 4. Discussion of AEMT Program. Captain Vitolo stated that the Association supports continuing the Advanced EMT Program to include training through the academy. They do not want to see that go away.Mr. Leiker said that he and the Chief continue to discuss the program and how it fits in with staffing and overtime. He said they want to adequately evaluate the benefit of the additional training because of the high cost. He stated that he believed there were about 80 people that have the Advanced EMT Certification. He said other issues could be solved if the medical director allowed additional work on the scene. Discussions will continue to figure out the best path forward. Chief Prillaman added that there are four areas on which attention has been focused. First, Chief Hughes has done an outstanding job of identifying the actual costs of moving folks from EMT basic to EMT advanced. Second, they have been pursuing other alternatives that might make Page 4 of 7 Fire Meet&Confer Minutes 04/25/2022 access to the curriculum less expensive. Third,they don't have the best reporting inside our records management system. But they have a date in May that a trainer from Zoll will be coming to help make some changes so that they can start recording better data. So better decisions can be made based on how often variances or these advanced skills are used. The fourth area is the ongoing discussions with the medical director to move most of the organization toward learning advanced EMT skillsets, like starting an IV, instead of just having a small number of advanced EMTs. The approach has been to continue raising the bar on the medical capability in the field. 5. Fire Marshall Succession Plan Chief Prillaman stated he felt that the fire department came close to resolving this issue. He believed that Julia predicted that with the inclusion of the fire marshal division in civil service, there would be challenges that are currently being faced. While everyone thinks it was the right decision, collectively, everyone has kicked the can down the road, particularly when it comes to the succession of the fire marshal and having an opportunity for the members of that division to have a real promotional opportunity. He believes that the purpose of having this issue on today's agenda is to reengage in discussions and identify the problems so the members will support an easier transition and an opportunity for the folks in that division to have some promotional opportunity. Mr. Leiker asked Captain Vitolo to have the Association meet in the future to discuss the issue and determine if a compromise can be reached. He is hopeful that new leadership can take a fresh look at it. Captain Vitolo stated they are certainly open to moving forward and finding something that works for both parties. 5. Promotional Leadership Assessment Christi Klyn, HR Director, addressed the attendees and gave a brief presentation of the Police Department's assessments. The P.D. introduced this to their Association then they passed this system. She stated that she and Chief Prillaman had a discussion, and he voiced some concerns about the P.D. not being happy with this system. But she believes some of the talk heard is just the negatives that a few people have experienced. Chief Prillaman asked her to present the same introduction to P.D.'s membership before their election. Ms. Klyn stated that she wanted to clarify this process's independence. The Association developed the entire process, elected the system, and has the right to terminate it at any point. She also wanted it to be apparent just how much flexibility the department has. Per 143, specifically to P.D., the Chief has to request this change. The Chief has to come to the Civil Service director and express the desire to pursue this. That is precisely what Chief Borrego did at that time. He assigned a deputy chief to create a committee. She said this is not something Fire would have to do, but she is just informing them of what P.D. did. And it has worked well for them. The majority of the committee was comprised of the Association and officers on the Association board, and then they had maybe one or two members that were not on the board. He also involved H.R., but they only acted as a consultant on the civil service side to make sure they were following the rules and meeting civil service requirements. The deputy chief did a great deal of research. He looked at other cities that already had a system in place and pulled all the information together for the committee. At different meetings, they reviewed each city and Page 5 of 7 Fire Meet&Confer Minutes 04/25/2022 its system. The committee then took pieces of those cities and created some of their own parts. They put all the pieces together and decided how they wanted their system to look. They presented the plan, took it to their membership, and educated them on the system. Ms. Klyn then proceeded to explain how the WFPD's program worked. Phase one is the 100-question written exam,which is what the Fire Department has now. It is subject to appeal with the Commission. But that has been reduced to 30% of the total score. She explained that 30% is the number that the P.D. decided on. It doesn't mean that Fire would have to do the same thing. The leadership assessment piece is their Ergometrics supervisory exam. That is 60% of the total score. The P.D. wanted most of the assessment to come from the leadership piece. Again,they can change that at any time. Phase three and 10% of the process is a peer interview panel. Neither the leadership assessment nor the peer interview panel is subject to appeal. The panel selection is chosen by the firefighters who are testing before testing begins. They vote from a list of panelists. Then, seven interview questions are selected by the panel. The Civil Service director must conduct an election on or after the 30th day after the notice is posted. A majority of the membership must approve it, and the Commission will canvass the votes within 30 days of the date of the election. The P.D.'s election was held over 24 hours to allow time for all qualified employees to vote. The P.D. has talked from time to time about changing pieces of the promotional process. The percentages are what is most often discussed. And they can go in and make changes at any time. The P.D.'s process has been in place since 2015. It has been used nine times, and there have been 17 commissions. Plenty of the feedback is positive. There is some occasional negative feedback concerning the length of time it takes because it is a much longer process than just the written exam and appeal process. She does hear that some of the officers do not like the percentages. But she does hear a lot of feedback about the type of leadership that comes out of this process. Ms. Klyn said she wanted to relay all the information about the P.D.'s process and how much of it is up to the department. The City only manages the administrative side. Chief Prillaman noted that being able to memorize resource material does not reflect an individual's ability to lead. He wants to pursue something that includes some type of leadership assessment. Something other than someone being a good test taker would best serve the organization and its members. He is okay with being hands-off in the process and likes the idea of those testing getting to vote and pick their panel members.He would like to use this system initially for anyone being promoted to captain and above. Captain Vitolo stated that he had seen several different promotional systems, and he can't deny that civil service and a test have some issues. Still, he believes it is the most objective method he has seen. He questions how to make it objective and remove some of the influence from this system. But he is not opposed to the discussion. This board is very membership driven; if the membership says this is what they want,then the board will do it. Mr. Leiker noted that he believes everyone's goal is to promote the best supervisor because it benefits the promoted person as well as the firefighters in his command. He thinks the test is important as well as the panel. He asked the board to be willing to keep it on the table and have some offline meetings about it, and hopefully, it can be revisited. Captain Vitolo asked if seniority points are applied to the whole process or just the test. Ms. Klyn answered that they are only applied to the test. Fire Marshal Melton asked about the Page 6 of 7 Fire Meet&Confer Minutes 04/25/2022 average time it takes from start to finish. Ms. Klyn said probably four weeks because there are three parts. The thing that delays it most is getting the Commission together to meet. She stated that she would send the rules to Captain Vitolo. She explained that there is a deadline after the Ergometrics test. There are ten days between the Civil Service Commission meeting and when the Ergometrics test must be offered. Once the panel is complete, everything must be posted in two days. Again, there are specific timelines and deadlines that must be followed. 6. Discussion of Termination of Meet & Confer Agreement Relating to FEO Testing Eligibility Chief Prillaman stated he had heard some frustration from many members about the five- year requirement to test for FEO, which is contrary to 143. However, a genuine concern is that a two-year firefighter will make FEO, then ride out as a lieutenant on the next shift. But, he could issue a directive or a general order to ensure that an FEO without a certain number of years of experience could not ride out as a lieutenant. He doesn't think the frustration comes from anyone wanting to be a two-year member riding out as a lieutenant. They just want to be a two or three- year member eligible to be a driver. He intends to cancel that, and it is his commitment to work with the board and determine the proper controls or mechanisms are put in place so there is not an FEO that is unfairly put in that right front seat when they may not be ready. Captain Vitolo stated that the board favors five years, but if the sunset clause is signed, they will go on about their way. He asked that if the Chief is going to do it, do it before this list expires. Ms. Vasquez stated that written notice would need to be sent from the Chief saying what the intent would be. Mr. Leiker asked if there were other items that anybody wished to bring up. Capt Vitolo stated that this is a brand new board, and they have only been together for three and a half months. They have committed to being a positive solution source. There will be some disagreement, but they can disagree and still be civil. Mr. Leiker said that he appreciated and echoed what Captain Vitolo said. If there are things the City can do or if anyone has a question, he said to please call or send an email. Mr. Leiker said that as everyone goes through the budget process,they could visit with him or Jessica if they have questions. He stated that the first budget workshop with Council would be in June. After that, he should have more clarity on how things are shaping up. Right now, they are looking pretty good revenue-wise. Sales tax is up considerably, but that could change next month. It can be a roller coaster. He stated that he appreciated and commended the members for stepping up to be on the board with the goal of improving the department. There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m. Page 7 of 7 Fire Meet&Confer Minutes 04/25/2022