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062606 CC WS Min CITY OF SHOREWOOD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2006 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD CONFERENCE ROOM 8:30 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor Love called the meeting to order at 8:33 P.M. A. Roll Call Present: Mayor Love, Councilmembers Callies, Turgeon, and Wellens; Administrator Dawson; Director of Public Works Brown; and Finance Director Burton Absent: Councilmember Lizee B. Review Agenda Without objection from Council, Mayor Love proceeded with the Agenda for the meeting. 2. EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Administrator Dawson stated the City's employment handbook updates were close to final form and this was opportunity for Council to review the recommended changes. He explained efforts had been made to update the City's employment handbook during the past several years. The employee handbook committee was reconvened again early in 2005 to review the draft handbook in its entirety, and it had been reviewed by the City Attorney's Office. The committee last met in late May 2006 and recommended approval of the handbook subject to final Council action relating to a few sections, and with a comment about one item that it did not have full agreement on. The City Attorney's Office had also approved the recommended changes. Dawson then explained there were three sections that needed to be completed pending Council action: 1) Section 6.01 - an explanation of the City's compensation plan, under consideration by Council; 2) Section 7.08 - the health and wellness program recommended by the employee Benefit Committee in 2005, but not yet approved by Council; and 3) Section 8.03 and Section 11.02 - the sick leave accumulation and conversion to severance benefits, respectively, as recommended by the employee Benefit Committee, but not yet approved by Council. He noted the current sick leave accrual was unlimited, and severance was one-third the number of hours on balance over 400 hours times the employee's current salary. Dawson also explained there was one area where there was not complete committee agreement, which regarded the practice of placing hours in an employees' vacation balance. In the 1986 handbook, one's vacation hours for the year were placed in the balance at the beginning of the year. When the City installed some payroll software (sometime in the late 1990s), the software was programmed to accrue vacation from pay-period to pay-period, rather than placing a full year's bank of hours on January 1. Since at least that time, it had been the on-going practice of the City for employees to accrue vacation on this basis; and any increase in the vacation benefit was reflected on the employee's anniversary date rather than at the start of the year in which the anniversary occurred. Some, but not a majority, of the CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING June 26, 2006 Page 2 of 4 committee members believed formalizing this change in practice could be viewed as reducing a benefit for employees. Others noted that this practice had been in place for many years, employees were used to it, and it was fair both to employees and the employer. Councilmember Wellens stated he was very supportive of the current vacation accrual practice, and of changing the employee handbook to reflect the current practice. Discussion ensued with regard to the severance benefit for accrued sick leave hours in excess of 400 hours, and placing a cap on the number of sick leave hours that could be accrued. The questions outstanding were what the cap should be and how to "buy down" those employees whose sick leave hours are in excess of the cap. The benefits consultant was preparing a recommendation for what the cap should be and what a one-time buy down of the hours should be. In response to a question from Councilmember Wellens, Administrator Dawson explained that by explicitly stating "this Handbook does not create a contract between the City and its employees" in the handbook makes the handbook not be a contract. In response to a question from Councilmember Wellens, Director Burton explained if an employee can demonstrate they had no need for City provided health insurance because they had adequate health insurance from another source, the City reimbursed the employee $50 per month (noting the City pays up to $680 for health insurance). Burton commented the policy had been in place prior to 2000. She stated one employee currently received the reimbursement. Councilmember Turgeon stated she had never heard of this type of policy. Discussion ensued with regard to the opt-out incentive policy. In response to a comment from Councilmember Turgeon, Administrator Dawson stated it was almost universal that single health insurance costs for municipal employees are paid by the employer. He also stated he was aware that some municipalities were beginning to pay for only basic health insurance costs; but there was little the City could do to offer significantly different health insurance options because of its size. Councilmember Wellens questioned why the opt-out incentive was recommended to increase from $50 to $100, yet the benefits consultant's report on benefits recommendations had not been completed. Administrator Dawson stated the report was nearly complete, and the $50 amount was at least 6 years old. Councilmember Wellens asked if Council could direct Staff not to increase the opt-out incentive. There was Council consensus to revisit the opt-out incentive amount once the final benefits consultant's report had been prepared. In response to a question from Councilmember Callies, Administrator Dawson stated the City did not offer retirees any type of health insurance options. In response to a comment from Councilmember Turgeon with regard to including ''partner'' in Section 8.04, Administrator Dawson stated the employee handbook language was updated to use current terminology. Turgeon questioned if there was a definition of ''partner''. In response to a question from Councilmember Wellens, Administrator Dawson explained State law required employees be granted up to 16 hours per year to attend a child's school functions, and the CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING June 26, 2006 Page 3 of 4 employee could use vacation or request unpaid leave for those hours (this was added to Section 8.09). He also explained State law mandated the City allow an employee time off in the morning of election days to go and vote, and the time was paid by the employer. Councilmember Wellens questioned the change to the funeral leave policy (Section 8.10), in particular allowing 1 day for City paid funeral leave to attend the funeral of a friend or distant relative. Administrator Dawson explained the change was made to be consistent with the public works labor agreement. Councilmember Turgeon stated as a non-union employee for a company, she did not receive all the benefits the union employees received. Mayor Love stated he thought the policy passed a reasonability test. Wellens stated his vantage point was that someone would abuse the policy, and the policy was easy to abuse. Mayor Love stated if there was a problem with the policy, the employee's supervisor would be responsible for managing the situation. He did not think it was prudent to write the policies to "look for the worst in people". Councilmember Wellens stated he did not think "the average constituent would be allowed to take 1 day offfor a friend's funeral with pay". Administrator Dawson again stated the change to Section 8.10 was to be consistent with and equitable with the labor agreement. He went on to state Staff had expressed concern with union employees receiving benefits non-union employees did not receive. Councilmember Turgeon commented the non- union employees did not pay dues, which already is a distinction. Dawson stated the funeral leave for a friend could be stricken from Section 8.10. Mayor Love and Councilmember Callies stated they would support the recommended change to the funeral leave policy. Councilmembers Turgeon and Wellens stated they would not support the recommended change. Mayor Love stated if an employee would abuse the friend component of the funeral leave policy, there would most likely be other performance issues with that employee. Councilmember Wellens stated there were other ways to support time-off for a friend's funeral (e.g. for example making up the time-off at a later date). Mayor Love suggested the recommended funeral leave policy be revisited at a future meeting. Councilmember Wellens expressed concern with Section 11.02 regarding severance pay - change payment of 1/3 of unused sick leave in excess of 400 hours to payment of 50% of sick leave hours up to a maximum of 800 hours. Administrator Dawson explained it was very common to convert a portion of unused sick leave to payment upon termination. The proposed change would cap the termination payment and also encourage employees not to use sick leave. Councilmembers Callies and Turgeon stated they want see the benefits consultant's recommendation on this policy. In response to a question from Councilmember Turgeon with regard to the firearms policy (Section 4.12), Administrator Dawson stated Council had approved the policy in 2003. In response to a question from Councilmember Turgeon with regard to the City's drug and alcohol testing policy (Section 4.13), Administrator Dawson explained he and the Director Brown had been trained on the State drug and alcohol testing policies for Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers (CMVD). Brown explained the City subscribed to services provided by LMCIT for the random testing, the random CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING June 26, 2006 Page 4 of 4 testing percentages were part of a larger pool of individuals, and individuals were selected for random testing by the LMCIT. Councilmember Wellens stated Section 3.02, vacancy is posted internally 3 working days prior to publication, was a short notice. Administrator Dawson explained 3 days was the minimum, and it was usually more. In response to a question from Councilmember Wellens with regard to Section 4.04, time sheets for exempt employees, Administrator Dawson clarified what was meant. In response to a question from Councilmember Turgeon with regard to lunch breaks, Administrator Dawson explained it was common practice for an employee to combine their one-half hour lunch break with their two 15-minute breaks. He noted the 15-minute breaks were required by Federal law. In response to a question from Councilmember Wellens with regard to Education Reimbursement (Section 5.01), Administrator Dawson stated Council had approved the policy as written in 2005. Administrator Dawson stated once the benefits consultant's recommendations had been incorporated into the employee handbook, Council would receive the final draft for review and consideration. He noted the majority of the policy changes had already been in practice. 3. OTHER None. 4. ADJOURN Wellens moved, Callies seconded, Adjourning the City Council Work Session Meeting of June 26, 2006,9:18 P.M. Motion passed 5/0. /' /p\ I ;1 ///1// ./ ( 1~~~ffi"~"ffi~~ Woody Love, Mayor RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Christine Freeman, Recorder