TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: TARA SCHULTZ, CITY MANAGER
DATE: FEBRUARY 25, 2020
Reviewed by:
City Manager: TS
Finance Director: AP
SUBJECT:
Title
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE CITY OF CLAREMONT AND THE CLAREMONT POLICE OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION (CPOA) IMPLEMENTING TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT (FUNDING SOURCE: GENERAL FUND)
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SUMMARY
The current Terms and Condition of Employment with the Claremont Police Officers’ Association (CPOA) expired on July 1, 2019. Staff and representatives of this labor association have been meeting and conferring in good faith since August 2019 and have reached a successor tentative Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), pending City Council approval. The term of the proposed MOU for the Claremont Police Officers’ Association is two years, from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2021.
Further, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) requires that the pay rate for each job classification be listed on a publicly available salary schedule, duly approved, and adopted by the governing board. The changes in the salary ranges for employees in CPOA, as well as for employees in the Claremont Police Management Association (CPMA), whose MOU was approved by the City Council on January 28, 2020, requires City Council adoption of a revised full-time salary schedule.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING THE CLAREMONT POLICE OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION (CPOA) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO IMPLEMENT WAGES, HOURS, AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT THROUGH JUNE 30, 2021, AND APPROVING THE REVISED FULL-TIME SALARY SCHEDULE EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2019.
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ALTERNATIVES TO RECOMMENDATION
In addition to the recommendation, there the following alternatives:
A. Take no action.
B. Request additional information.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The cost of implementing this MOU in 2019-20 amounts to approximately $244,570. Funding will come from cost savings from unfilled vacant positions, including one Police Officer and one Senior Civil Engineer. Total savings from these two vacancies amounts to over $300,000, more than sufficient to fund the proposed CPOA MOU for 2019-20
The total cost of implementing the terms and conditions of the MOU in 2020-21 is unknown at this time, since a salary survey will not be completed until May 2020; however, the additional costs of the agreement will be included in the proposed budget for 2020-21.
The staff cost to prepare this report and administer this program is estimated at $5,000 and is included in the operating budgets of the Administrative Services and Financial Services Departments.
ANALYSIS
When the City's negotiating team began discussions with each of the various employee labor associations at the outset of working on a new labor agreement, the Finance Director gave a presentation to the associations explaining the City's financial condition. The employee associations were educated on the City's growing General Fund budget deficit, which is expected to grow to approximately $2.8 million by 2023-24. It was explained to the employees that the City's budgetary situation is due to the rising cost of services and programs as a result of increased insurance costs, utility costs, contract costs, and personnel and pension costs. Accordingly, the City's negotiating team asked the employee labor associations to assist the City by looking for creative ideas and low-cost benefits that will not significantly increase the City's CalPERS pension costs when submitting their proposals.
To be able to offer employees some sort of compensation, it was proposed that a portion of the General Fund surplus from the prior fiscal year could be allocated to fund agreements with the employee associations for 2019-20. Specifically, staff recommended that half of the surplus would go to the City's Operating and Environmental Emergency Reserve, with the other half allocated to agreements with the employee associations to provide all full-time employees with a one-time cash payment, not to exceed $1,000 per employee. While CPOA did not accept the City's offer of the one- time payment of $1,000, the half of the 2018-19 surplus in the amount of $186,593 was available to fund agreements with all six employee associations.
With the ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and CPOA, the group will receive an agreement term of July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021, a two-year contract. The Claremont Police Officers’ Association negotiated for their 2020 salary survey to be conducted in November 2019, using data available at that time, with implementation retroactive to July 1, 2019. Any position below market average will be adjusted to market average. The cost for the early implementation of the salary survey is estimated at $230,540. The results of the salary survey are as follows:
|
Position |
% Below or Above Market Average |
|
Jailer |
4.5% below market |
|
Parking Enforcement Officer |
3.5% below market |
|
Police Corporal |
5.0% below market |
|
Police Officer |
5.0% below market |
|
Police Recruit |
3.0% below market |
|
Senior Jailer |
5.0% below market |
|
Communications Officer I |
2.8% above market |
|
Communications Officer II |
6.4% above market |
For the second year of their two-year contract, CPOA negotiated for an additional salary survey to take place in May of 2020, with implementation occurring on July 1, 2020. The costs of the implementation of this salary survey are unknown at this time but will be included in the budget for 2020-21.
Other benefits negotiated by CPOA included an additional sixteen (16) hours of Floating Holidays and communications officer assignment premium compensation of $100 per month to employees who are routinely assigned to the Communications Center. Furthermore, a new special duty compensation/assignment of $100 per month for Detective Bureau (retroactive to July 1, 2019). The total cost for these items is $14,030.
Finally, the MOU includes several other non-substantive changes to clarify existing language and/or streamline daily departmental operations. The resolution approving implementation of the terms and conditions of the Memorandum of Understanding is included as an Attachment. The MOU is included as Exhibit I to the resolution.
In order to implement the necessary changes to the salary schedule, the City Council must adopt the revised salary schedule. The updated salary schedule, retroactive to July 1, 2019, is included as Exhibit II to the resolution.
RELATIONSHIP TO CITY PLANNING DOCUMENTS
Staff has evaluated the agenda item in relationship to the City's strategic and visioning documents and finds the following:
Council Priorities - This item addresses the priority to Maintain Financial Stability by negotiating agreements with the various employee groups.
Sustainability Plan - This item does not address the Sustainability Plan.
Economic Sustainability Plan - This item does not relate to the Economic Sustainability Plan.
General Plan - This item does not address the General Plan.
2019-20 Budget - This item meets the following Administrative Services Department Work Plan Goals:
AS-3: Attract, train, and retain quality employees for the City organization.
AS-6: Provide administrative personnel support to employees, operating departments, and the City Manager's Office.
Youth and Family Master Plan - This item does not relate to the objectives in the Youth and Family Master Plan.
CEQA REVIEW
The MOU is not subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and Section 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a "project" as defined in Section 15378). CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(2), (4), and (5) exclude "[c]ontinuing administrative ... activities," "government fiscal activities which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment," and "[o]rganizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes to the environment" from its definition of "project." The MOU will have no physical impact on the environment. Even if the MOU were a "project," it would be exempt from environmental review under CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3)'s "general rule" that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment.
PUBLIC NOTICE PROCESS
This item has been noticed through the regular agenda notification process. Copies are available at the City Hall public counter, the Youth Activity Center, the Alexander Hughes Community Center, and the City website.
Submitted by: Prepared by:
Tara Schultz Jeremy Swan
City Manager Community Services Director
Attachment:
Proposed Resolution