12-14-10 City of La Porte Meet and Confer Committee Meeting minutes

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Page Four of Five Meet and Confer Minutes December 14, 2010 course for regular week and Holiday week the same as to do otherwise would cause substantial confusion for Payroll. VI. Como Time a) Increase comp time from 40 to 80 b) Treat Comp time the same as vacation c) Comp time will be allowed to be accrued by all personnel at the discretion of the person working, not the supervisor d) Language comp time to not be able to "cash out" only it is based on resignation, termination or emergency basis i.) Emergency basis will be defined. e) Have the City fund comp time if economically feasible. According to the Chief the City is not open to increasing comp time accumulation allowances and in fact would prefer to see Comp Time eliminated all together due to its negative impact on staffing levels, which are already at a critical state. Comp Time creates a net loss of hours available for work production, instead of additional hours of work production, even though the additional hours may have to be paid for at an overtime premium. The Chief advised, however, that, if it is important to the officers, the City may be open to keeping Comp time accumulation the same for at least another contract year and may even be open to further discussion relating to treating comp time used as time worked, even though, at the current rate of comp time usage, this concession could, according to Finance calculations, cost the City an estimated $4,000 annually. VII. Sick Time a) Sick time incentive program would require personnel to have at least 100 hours on the books, not more than 24 hours in a year and convert 24 hours into vacation Sick time usage was discussed and it was acknowledged by both the City and the LPPOA as being a problem. LPPOA wants to obtain information from other agencies on how they handle sick time abuse. The LPPOA feels that a "no fault" policy is a "stick", and that it is more likely to improve with a "carrot". The Chief agreed with the analogy, but stated that, to be effective, both a stick and a carrot would be required- rewarding those for extraordinary performance, while sanctioning those who are abusing the system. A quick idea was presented by the Association, following a short Caucus, being that if any officer falls below 120 hours of accrued sick leave, they would be required to present a work release every time. Chief talked about sick time in excess of four times being used, utilizing a realistic number and investigating abuse. The Chief advised that this was very similar to the Physical Report Status prerogative that the City already