HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-25-13 Meet and Confer Committee Meeting minutesTHE CITY OF LA PORTE MEET & CONFER COMMITTEE MET THE 25th DAY OF APRIL, 2013 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 3:06 p.m.
Attendees: Corby Alexander, Kenith Adcox, Michael Dolby, Nicole Wells, Matt Novosad, Marcus
Upchurch and David Huckabee. Other attendees included: Steve Deardorff (audience).
2. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM April 11, 2012 MEETING.
Minutes were reviewed and a motion to approve was made by Ken Adcox to approve 2"a by
Matt Novosad, all attendees 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.
Mr. Alexander advised that Michael Dolby is attending the meeting as a representative from
Finance and Nicole Wells is attending as a representative for Human Resources.
Mr. Alexander stated that the City is still reviewing the monetary impact of the salary
adjustments proposed by the Association at the last meeting. He feels fairly confident that the
City will be able to make the market adjustment; however, indicated that the City would need
to look further into the future impact relating to both the compression adjustment and the two
additional senior patrol officer steps that were being proposed by the Association. Mr.
Alexander stated that the City would have to consider more than just this year's costs for these
sorts of concessions and would have to ensure that any adjustments were reasonably
sustainable in the future.
Mr. Alexander began discussion on the Bill of Rights that the Association proposed. He
discussed that most of the issues appeared to already be addressed in existing Civil Service
Rules, Local Government Code, City policy, or Police Department General Orders. He asked the
Association to articulate specific concerns there may be with the existing disciplinary system in
order to determine what the Association was hoping to correct. Matt Novosad spoke again
about the recent court case involving the Plano Fire Department and indicated that the
Association's intent was more about wanting to ensure that the La Porte Police Department's
disciplinary process was fair. Chief Adcox mentioned that the issue of concern in the Plano Fire
Department case dealt with employee representation, which is an item not even mentioned in
the proposed Bill of Rights. Mr. Alexander asked the Association if there was anything they
could think of in the current La Porte Police Department practice that is unfair. Mr. Novosad
Indicated that he would look into this further in order to see if he can identify any specific areas
of concern.
Specifically mentioned were item (F) on the second page of the Bill of Rights regarding to
anonymous complaints. It was discussed that Chapter 614 of the Local Government Code
addresses that all complaints must be in writing. However, the Chapter does address
exceptions regarding anonymous complaints. The Police Department already follows
procedures in policy and existing civil service law very closely.
Mr. Alexander and Chief Adcox mentioned that there are a few items in the Bill of Rights that
would be of a concern to the City. Mr. Alexander and Chief Adcox discussed that there were
various items In the Bill or Rights that did not make sense for a City of our size and that is why
State law only makes this particular Bill of Rights applicable to cities of 1.5 million or more, not
smaller cities like La Porte with a population of only 36,000 citizens. Examples were that the Bill
of Rights states that internal affairs interviews can only be done during the involved officer's
shift. While this works for very large police departments that have whole shifts of internal
affairs investigators scheduled around the clock, due to its small size, La Porte only has one
part-time investigator who is responsible for investigating any and all internal complains
department -wide. If the Bill of Rights were implemented in La Porte, it would require that this
one investigator to come in during graveyards, etc. several times a month; resulting in a great
deal of overtime pay for the investigator and likely a great deal of fatigue. It was also noted
that our investigator currently works well with the employee to make it as practical and
convenient as possible when scheduling internal affairs interviews (example: 7:00 a.m. meeting
for a graveyard shift person who get off at 7:00 AM). Persons called into internal affairs are
always paid overtime should their interview stretches beyond their assigned shift.
Another concern mentioned by the Chief was the stipulation in the Bill of Rights that states that
if you are the complainant you cannot do any part of the internal investigation. This would
literally mean that, since first line supervisors are typically the complainant relating to internal
policy violations, the employee's supervisors could not do any investigations for even the most
minor infractions such as missing court, being tardy, etc. All policy violations would have to be
handled formally through Internal Affairs. Our current practice allows most minor violations to
go to the supervisor or the Assistant Chief and be handled at the Division level without the
need for a formal internal affairs investigation and formal discipline. Chief Adcox reiterated
that stipulations such as this don't work well for small police departments where internal affairs
operations are small. He added that this particular stipulation does not seem to be in the best
Interest of the individual LPPOA member, much -less the Department as a whole.
Mr. Huckabee asked about when an officer receives notice of an investigation. Chief indicated
that is specifically addressed in current law and that, without knowing the exact words, the
current law says something to the effect of officers are to be provided a copy of the complaint
as soon as practical. Mr. Huckabee advised that the Bill of Rights speaks to at least 48 hours
before the employee is interviewed. Chief Adcox advised that he felt that the Department
likely already substantially does this as employees are most often notified of a complaint and
provided a copy of the complaint as "first notice" long before they are interviewed.
In conclusion, Mr. Novosad advised that they would look further into the idea of a Bill of Rights.
Chief Adcox asked if the Association was still ok with all of the previously proposed ideas
relating to expanding the promotional process. Matt Novosad asked about time in rank to be
eligible for promotion. He indicated that the LPPOA thought there was discussion regarding
increasing the time in grade requirements from two (2) to four (4) years for both the Sergeants
and Lieutenants test. Chief Adcox advised that this was not discussed. He stated that requiring
a sergeant to be in grade for 4 years before they can take the lieutenants test is not standard in
policing, nor would it be practical. Chief Adcox again passed out the summary of the notes
relating to what had been discussed and agreed on by the Alternative Testing Committee in
February. Mr. Alexander also read out the minutes from the last Meet and Confer meeting,
indicating that only persons testing for sergeant would be required to have four (4) years time
in grade before they could take the test. The Lieutenant's test was not mentioned. Chief Adcox
advised that the City is not proposing changing existing civil service law, which requires two (2)
years time in grade to take the Lieutenants test. The LPPOA will further discuss this item and, if
any concerns remain, they will address them at the next meeting.
Matt Novosad asked that if the 15 year and 20 year steps were included in the salary
adjustments how evaluation ratings above a 4.0 would be handled. The question is if they
would move to the 15/20 year steps quicker, or would it be handled by lump sum as the current
practice for those at the maximum pay grade. Chief Adcox said that this was a good question
and that he felt that if an officer who was just receiving their 15 or 20 step was to receive an
exceptional evaluation, they should be handled the same way as the contract currently handles
persons who are topping out in their assigned classification- the officer would get their step and
then a $1,000 cash bonus, they would not get their 15 and then 20 year step in the same year.
The Association agreed with this approach and, if the 15 and 20 year steps are Implemented as
part of the agreement, this stipulation would have to be specifically covered in the agreement.
Items that will need to be further discussed next meeting are the salary chart or "Schedule A"
and time in grade.
Chief Adcox asked if the LPPOA is still interested in a multi -year agreement. Matt Novosad
advised that this would be something the Association would be interested in discussing. A
three (3) year term would be preferred.
Chief Adcox advised he will start working on a first draft agreement covering some of the items
that have already been discussed, while the City is finalizing the budget impact numbers. Mr.
Alexander advised that he thought the City could have something relating to the budget impact
numbers by the next meeting.
4. SET TIME AND DATE OF NEXT MEETING
May 2, 2013 at 3:00 p.m., City Hall, Council Chambers.
5. COMMITTEE COMMENTS
None.
6. ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.
APPROVED ON THIS THE Z DAY OF Ma's 2013.
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Ken Adcox, hief of Police
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Matt Novosad, LPPOA President