HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-23-12 Meet and Confer Committee MeetingTHE CITY OF LA PORTE MEET & CONFER COMMITTEE MET THE 23RD DAY OF MAY,
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.
2. INTRODUCTION OF MEET AND CONFER MEMBERS FROM THE CITY OF LA PORTE
AND THE LA PORTE POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION (LPPOA)
Cornnaittee Members:
Steve Gillett, Interim City Manager
Traci Leach, Assistant City Manager
Ken Adcox, Chief of Police
Nicole Wells, Human Resources
Matt Novosad, Patrol Officer — LPPOA President
Marcus Upchurch, Support Services Sergeant — LPPOA Member
Chris Paige, Patrol Officer — LPPOA Member
David Huckabee, Detective — LPPOA Member
Other Atten(lees:
Tom Barbee, Representative from CLEAT
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.
A) Minutes from November 301", 2011 meeting were reviewed. Steve Gillett asked for
clarification regarding disagreement on "median" as indicated on item 3 ( C ) of the minutes
and Matt Novosad clarified that they are not in disagreement, however, that the median
should be thought of as a starting point with an understanding that, when possible, the City
should strive to compensate La Porte Officer above the median level. Chief Adcox stated
that he believes that our La Porte Police Officers are some of the finest in the nation and
deserve, as reasonable and within the constraints of the City's budget, to be compensated as
such. Chief Adcox then made a motion to approve the minutes and Matt Novosad seconded.
Minutes were approved.
B) Steve Gillett stated that Nicole Wells with Human Resources has been working on the salary
survey and that they have a good starting point. Copies of the comparative wage scales were
then distributed to all in attendance. Mr. Gillett stated the he is doing all he can to reinstate
merit raises for all City employees this year and has restricted capital projects this year to try
and accomplish that goal. Due to the contract Officers were the only group in the City to
obtain pay raises this year, and noted that their current step system is just an alternative to
other City employees merit raises.
C) Matt Novosad indicated that there have been no issues raised by the LPPOA membership,
that there have been no issues with the existing contract items, and that the only real issue the
association would be bringing to the table for discussion would be salary. Chief Adcox
stated this is the P contract negotiation he has participated in with the Association and that
he sincerely appreciates the fair and collaborative approach the bargaining team as
consistently demonstrated. The Chief also commented that he feels the existing contract has
served both the City and the Police Association well as demonstrated by the fact that not a
single issue or grievance has arisen on either side over the last three years.
D) The Chief stated that, other than salary discussions, there were two items that the City would
like to discuss during the current negotiations. The first involves the Citywide Emergency
Pay Policy, which the City is in the process of up -dating. The policy is designed to provide
essential persomiel with special compensation during large-scale emergencies, however,
since it includes language stating that "all other pay policies are suspended" (such as
compensatory time, since that time is not reimbursable to the City) and many of these items
are covered within the Meet and Confer contract, formal acknowledgement and acceptance
of the Emergency Pay policy should have to be included in the Meet and Confer contract if it
were to be made applicable to Civil Service employees. The Chief made it clear, however,
that the revised Emergency Pay Policy has yet to be accepted and approved by Council.
Copies of the draft proposal were simply being provided at this time as, should the policy be
accepted by City Council, it would need to be discussed during contract negotiations.
E) The second item the City wou[d like to discuss was seniority points as applied to promotional
exams. The Chief would like to see a provision in the contract that indicates that an officer
must pass the promotional test in order to receive seniority points and thus be placed on the
promotional list. Chief indicated that this is important should the City and/or Police
Department ever be challenged about someone not passing the tests and/or being qualified to
supervise personnel. He is worried about the potential liability of promoting an officer who
actually failed the promotional exam.
F) The City will continue to work on pay charts to see what the overall budget impact will be
for implementation and bringing numbers next meeting. If numbers are obtained prior to
next meeting they will be forwarded to LPPOA for review ahead of time.
G) Within the next contract, both sides would also like to see wording included making it a
multi -year contract, with the only provision being incremental pay adjustments. Verbiage
will be looked at for inclusion within the contract.
4. SET TIME AND DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be set for June 20"' at 3:00 p.m
5. COMMITTEE COMMENTS
None.
6. ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 4:05 p.m.
APPROVED ON THIS THE 2b DAY OF -70 A -A. , 2012.
—Y-Q(V� P, C�-�
Ken Adcox, Chief of Police
Matt Novosad, LPPOA President