07-18-12 Meet and Confer Committee Meeting

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THE CITY OF LA PORTE MEET & CONFER COMMITTEE MET THE 18" DAY OF JULY, 2012 AT 3:00 P.M. AT CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 604 WEST FAIRMONT PARKWAY, LA PORTE, TEXAS. 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. Attendees: Corby Alexander, Traci Leach, Kenith Adcox, Katherine Anderson, Matthew Novosad, Marcus Upchurch, David Huckabee, Chris Paige and Tom Barbee. Brian Larkey attended in the audience. 2. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 20, 2012 MEETING. Minutes were reviewed and a motion to approve was made by Chief Adcox, all attendees from last meeting were in favor. 3. OPEN DISCUSSION RELATING TO ITEMS INTRODUCED BY THE POLICE ASSOCIATION AND/OR THE CITY OF LA PORTE, REGARDING COMPENSATION, LEAVE PROVISIONS, WORKING CONDITIONS, AND CIVIL SERVICE PREEMPTIONS. Chief Adcox began the discussions regarding compensation and indicated that the City felt comfortable with what would be required to bring officers in -line with the current wage median for comparable cities. The required increase averaged 2.97%. Chief Adcox advised that this Increase would be in addition to continued step increase that each officer receives on their employment anniversary date. Since step increases are comparable to the merit increases that are planned for civilian employees, this additional 2,97% salary adjustment could be equated to a cost of living increase, which is currently not being planned for civilian employees. As such, Chief Adcox advised that the City felt the offer in question was very fair. Matt Novosad indicated that he had some concern that they will be behind the median once again due timing as some of the comparable agencies are in the process of negotiating pay increases now. it was discussed that this will always be a factor, no matter when the contract is negotiated. For budgeting purposes, however, a "line -in -the -sand" will have to be selected for when salary numbers are collected from all of the agreed upon comparable cities. For budgeting purposes, this has to be done in April/May so the City can finalize its budget by June. Additionally, Matt Novosad asked if it was possible to do a pay "scale" compression, whereas there would be only 10 steps for Patrol, 6 steps for Sergeants, and 4 steps for Lieutenants. He advised that the Association had done a preliminary study of this option and that, in order to do this, it would add approximately another $112,000 overall to the city budget. This would be in addition to the $175,000 that the City is already anticipating having to spend in order to bring officer pay back up to the regional median. If possible, the association would like to see this happen, even if it occurs in phases (shrink scale down first for Patrol, 2"d year Sergeant, 3rd year Lieutenant or reverse order dependent on impact). Mr. Alexander stated the City would have to look at the impact that the compression would have.