HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 03-29-1994 Workshop• •
CITY COUNCIL
WORKSHOP MEETING
March 29, 1994
A Workshop Meeting of the Cape Canaveral City Council was held on March 29, 1994, at the
City Hall Annex, 111 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The meeting was called to order
at 8:00 A.M. by Mayor Salamone.
ROLL CALL:
Mayor Joy Salamone Present
Mayor Pro Tem John Porter Present
Councilmember Arthur Berger Present
Councilmember Leo Nicholas Present (Late)
Councilmember Rocky Randels Present
City Manager Bennett Boucher Present
City Attorney John Kancilia Present
City Clerk Faith Miller Present
BUSINESS:
1. Discussion Re: Proposed Revision of Personnel Rules & Regulations. Beginning with
Section 7, Recruitment and Employment.
The following sections of the proposed revisions to the City's Personnel Rules & Regulations
were reviewed and discussed as follows:
SECTION 7 - RECRUITMENT AND EMPLOYMENT:
Item 7.02, Types of Positions - the descriptions of the types of positions would be changed to
refer back to the Definitions portion of the Personnel Policies. Council had agreed previously
that full -time positions would require a minimum of forty (40) hours per week, not thirty (30)
hours. References regarding eligibility for benefits would be included in Section 2, Definitions.
Mrs. Nancy Hanson, Recreation Director, explained that her part-time employees did accrue sick
and vacation leave at a level of one -half what a full-time employee accrued. Mr. Boucher stated
that staff had recommended that part-time employees receive no benefits. Part-time employees
were not eligible for health insurance. After extensive discussion, Council concurred to allow
part-time employees to continue to accrue sick and vacation leave at half of what full -time
employees accrued. Section 7.02 would be revised to reflect wording specific to the benefits
for part-time employees.
Item Nos. 7.03 - 7.05 - No changes.
Item 7.06, Applications - the last sentence would be changed to read: "All applications must be
completed in full; incomplete applications will be rejected."
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City of Cape Canaveral, Florida
City Council Workshop Meeting
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Item 7.08, Basis for Employment, (C) - the following wording was added to the item at the
recommendation of the City Attorney: "The taking of samples of urine, blood, or other physical
specimen to identify substance abusers will be routinely given as part of the normal City pre-
employment procedure as per Ordinance No. 16-92."
There was discussion regarding who actually did the selection process as referenced in Item D
of 7.08, the Personnel Director or the Department Head. Ms. Haggerty stated that currently the
Personnel Director did not sit -in on interviews of prospective employees and she felt that the
Personnel Director should always be included in the interview process because she was the
person who was trained in ADA requirements and other selection criteria. Mr. Morgan stated
that the Personnel Director should actually select the applications before they were given to the
Department Head for review.
Item 7.09, References - the second sentence of the item was changed to read: "The Personnel
Director shall make these reference checks by written personal or telephone contact, but all shall
be documented and made part of the applicant's file." The word "should" in the last sentence
of the item would be changed to "shall".
Item Nos. 7.10 - 7.11 - No changes.
Item 7.12, Employment Process - Subsection (C)(5) would be moved to the pre - employment
section of the policy. The first sentence of Subsection (C)(6) would remain in place, but the
remaining wording of the subsection would be deleted. The first sentence of Subsection (E) was
changed to read: "Selections are coordinated with the Personnel Director for final approval as
determined by the City Manager."
Item 7.13, Employment of Disabled - Item to be deleted in its entirety.
Item 7.14, Veterans' Preference - No changes.
SECTION 8 - PROMOTIONS. TRANSFERS. DEMOTIONS, & REINSTATEMENTS:
Item 8.02, Eligibility - The following sentence would be deleted in Subsection (A): "Unless in
a particular instance the City Manager determines otherwise, promotions will be recommended
by the Department Head and approved by the City Manager." Subsection (D), delete the word
"maximum" in the first line. Subsection (E) would be deleted in its entirety.
Item 8.03, Temporary Acting Promotion - The last sentence of Subsections (1) and (3) would
be deleted. Subsection (3) would be clarified to allow that if an employee served in an acting
capacity for two (2) weeks or more, he /she would be compensated accordingly for the two (2)
weeks plus any additional time served in an acting capacity. The term " consecutive" would be
added to the third sentence of Subsection (5) in reference to the time frame of two (2) weeks.
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City of Cape Canaveral, Florida
City Council Workshop Meeting
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Item 8.04, Transfers - The word "regular" in the first line of this item would be deleted. The
term "maximum" in the second line of Subsection (C)(1) would be deleted. Subsection (C)(2)
would be deleted in its entirety.
Item 8.05, Demotions - Paragraph (C) would be rewritten to clarify the item. The word
"maximum" would be deleted in the first line of Subsection (E). Subsection (F) would be
deleted in its entirety.
Item 8.06, Reinstatements - The word "maximum" would be deleted from the second line of
Subsection (C).
SECTION 9 - PROBATION:
Item 9.02, Duration - the terms "or reduction of" will be deleted from line four of the
paragraph. Mayor Salamone asked if she could assume that for an extension of a probationary
period that a Department Head would have a written plan for the employee to follow during the
extension time period. Wording providing that "the employee agrees to the Plan, not to the
extension" would be included in the item.
Item 9.03, Performance Evaluation - the words "or attitude" in the fourth line of this item would
be deleted. Mr. Randels asked that feedback be provided to probationary employees at a 90 -day
interval as well as at the end of the six -month probationary period.
Item 9.06, Benefits - the word "accrued" would be deleted from the last line of the item.
SECTION 10 - ANNUAL LEAVE /VACATION:
Item 10.02, Eligibility - would be corrected to reflect Council's intention that part-time
employees were eligible for one -half of the sick and vacation benefits given to full-time
employees.
Item 10.04, Accrual of Annual Leave - Council concurred with the following annual leave
schedule:
Years of
Employment
Leave Days Earned
Per Year
1 -5 10
6 - 10 15
11 - 15 18
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City Council Workshop Meeting
March 29, 1994
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The last sentence of Item 10.04, would be changed to read: "In that case, accumulation will be
permitted by approval of the City Manager."
Item 10.06, Request for Annual Leave - Subsection (B) would be changed to read: "Emergency
requests that can not meet two (2) weeks advance notice for annual leave may be granted by the
City Manager unless scheduling or work commitments preclude permitting the leave."
Subsection (C) would be changed to read: "In the case of two (2) employees requesting leave
for the same time period, length of service with the City shall be considered."
Item 10.07, Payment for Unused Leave - wording would be added to provide that employees
must leave a minimum of 80 hours in the bank in order to be eligible for payment for unused
leave.
SECTION 11 - HOLIDAYS:
Mr. Nicholas arrived at the meeting at this time.
Item 11.01, Official Holidays - After extensive discussion, Council concurred to delete Martin
Luther King as an additional holiday.
Item 11.02, Eligibility - Subsection (D) was questioned and would be researched further.
Item 11.03, Holiday Pay - Subsection (C), the proposed wording "for all non -union members"
would be changed to read "unless a collective bargaining agreement covering such employees
provides otherwise ". After discussion, Council concurred to substitute wording from the
collective bargaining (union) agreement in the section.
SECTION 12 - SICK LEAVE:
Item 12.01, Policy - The first sentence of Subsection (A) would be changed to read "Paid sick
leave will be granted to City employees when they are ill if they have accumulated sufficient sick
days on their record ". The parenthesis around the last sentence of Subsection (A) would be
deleted. Subsection (C) would be changed to read: "Sick leave shall not be used for vacation
or personal time off except as explained in conversion of sick leave (Subsection 12.07)."
Item 12.02, Eligibility - Subsection (B) would be corrected to reflect Council's intention to pay
part -time employees one -half of the sick leave benefits paid to full-time employees.
Item 12.03, Use of Sick Leave - Subsection (H), add "Manager" to the reference to "City" in
the first line of the section.
Item 12.05, Sick Leave Earned - In Subsection (A) the reference to "weekly" would be changed
City of Cape Canaveral, Florida
City Council Workshop Meeting
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to "bi- weekly ". The last sentence of Subsection (B) would be changed to read: "Actions
allowed may include pooling of sick leave as approved by the City Manager."
There was extensive discussion regarding the provision for pooling of sick leave. Council
concurred that provisions for pooling of sick leave be written as a separate policy to include a
Review Board to grant or reject requests for use of pooled sick leave.
Item 12.06 (E), Accrual \Payment of Sick Leave and Item 12.07, Conversion of Sick Leave -
were discussed simultaneously. Mr. Boucher commented that the provisions for accrual of up
to 720 hours of sick leave were in lieu of providing short-term disability benefits. Mr. Nicholas
asked if the City's insurance carrier provided short-term disability and Ms. Miller responded that
the carrier did provide such a benefit but the City currently did not provide short-term disability
benefits. Mr. Nicholas asked that staff look into short-term disability costs during the upcoming
budget process.
Mr. Boucher stated that Items 12.06(E) and 12.07(A) were provided as a way to cut down on
abuse of sick leave. He stated that the union contract included conversion of sick leave on a
one - for -one basis for up to three (3) personal days. Mayor Salamone stated that personal days
allowed the employees to have three (3) days in which the employees would not call in sick and
mislead their supervisors when instead of being sick the employees needed to take care of
personal business. Mr. Nicholas stated that "personal leave" was "annual or vacation leave"
which meant that staff was giving employees three (3) more days of annual leave with the
conversion of sick leave provision.
After a 10- minute break, the meeting was reconvened.
Council was given copies of the wording included in the union contract related to personal days.
Mayor Salamone polled the Council regarding Subsection 12.07 - Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Randels
were against the provision; Mayor Salamone, Mr. Berger and Mr. Porter were in favor of the
sick leave conversion provision.
There was discussion regarding maintaining a balance of 80 hours in the employee's sick leave
bank instead of 40 hours; or allowing conversion of personal days only after an employee had
gone through a year of employment without utilizing any sick time. Council concurred to
review Item 12.06(E) and Item 12.07 (A, B, & C) again at a later date.
SECTION 13 - LEAVES OF ABSENCE:
Item 13.01, Funeral Leave - The word "regular" would be deleted from the first line of the
item.
Item 13.02, Disability Leave - The first sentence would be changed to read: "The City
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City Council Workshop Meeting
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Manager may grant up to six (6) weeks (30 working days) of unpaid leave of absence for
employees who are unable to work on account of any illness, injury, accident or other disability
or incapacity".
Item 13.04, Military Leave - Subsection (C) would be deleted in its entirety.
Item 13.05, Conference Leave /Travel Policy - Council asked that conference leave and travel
policy be separated into two (2) separate policies to establish the differences between mandatory
attendance at a City - related function as compared to voluntary attendance at a conference or
seminar. There was discussion regarding when the City paid or did not pay travel time for an
employee's attendance at a conference, administrative hearing or trial, seminar, etc.
Item 13.06, Administrative Leave - There was discussion regarding what constituted
administrative leave and its use as a discretionary tool by the City Manager. Mr. Nicholas asked
for definitions of administrative leave from other cities' personnel policies.
SECTION 14 - EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS:
Item 14.01, Purpose - The last word of the first sentence was changed from "department" to
"City". The last two (2) sentences of the first paragraph would be deleted. The words "attitude
and" would be deleted from Subsection (B).
Item 14.03, Procedure - The word "written" would be included at the beginning of the first
sentence of the item. The fourth paragraph of Item 14.03 would be deleted.
Item 14.04, Probationary Evaluation - The word "may" would be changed to "shall" in the
second sentence of the first paragraph of the item.
Item 14.05, Annual Performance Evaluations - Subsection (B) would be deleted in its entirety.
Ms. Miller explained that staff had recommended that employee's annual review dates not
change with promotions, transfers, demotions, etc., but Council had determined at a previous
meeting that it did want the annual review date to change with changes in employee status.
Mr. Gluskin explained that upon completion of probationary performance appraisals employees
should not be given raises, but that at the annual review date the employee would be eligible for
an increase in salary. There was extensive discussion regarding whether or not the annual
review date would change with promotions, demotions, transfers, etc. Mayor Salamone stated
that it was her intent that employees not receive raises after completing probation. Several
scenarios were discussed related to annual review dates, probationary periods, and the
requirement to hire new employees only at the established starting salary rates. Mayor Salamone
stated that she wanted to clarify the current policy of automatically granting raises at the
completion of employees' probationary periods. Mr. Gluskin stated that the way to fix the
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City of Cape Canaveral, Florida
City Council Workshop Meeting
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problem would be to establish a policy that no merit increases would be allowed upon the
completion of probationary periods, but that the annual review date and anniversary date remain
the same day throughout the employee's employment with the City.
Council concurred that employees' annual review date would change with promotions,
demotions, transfers, etc.
Item 14.06, Special Performance Evaluations - The word "may" would be changed to "shall"
in Subsection (B). A sentence to read: "The employee- will be involuntarily dismissed if
satisfactory performance is not achieved within sixty (60) days" would be added at the end of
Subsection (B). "Special evaluations shall require final approval by the City Manager" would
be added to Subsection (C).
SECTION 15 - HOURS OF WORK:
Item 15.02, Normal Workday and Workweek - Subsection (B) would be deleted in its entirety.
Item 15.03, Overtime - Subsection (A) would be rewritten to read: "Except for emergencies all
overtime must be approved in advance by the City Manager or his designee."
Item 15.04, Lunch /Rest Breaks - The last paragraph of the item would be deleted in its entirety.
Council concurred to schedule the next special workshop meeting to continue review of the
Personnel Rules & Regulations for Thursday, April 7, 1994, from 6 :00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m.
Faith G. Miller, CM
City Clerk