HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-06-30 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCity Council Special Meeting
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CITY OF TAMARAC
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1994
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Norman Abramowitz called this meeting to order
on Thursday, June 30, 1994, at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 of
Tamarac City Hall, 7525 Northwest 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida.
PRESENT:
Mayor Norman Abramowitz
Councilwoman Sharon Machek
Councilman Larry Mishkin
Councilman Joseph Schreiber
Vice Mayor Irving Katz
ALSO PRESENT:
Robert S. Noe, Jr., City Manager
Dina M. McDermott, Assistant City Manager
Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney
Carol A. Evans, City Clerk
Larry DuPre, Personnel Director
Kimberly Roth, Secretary
1. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION - Any member of the public may speak to
any issue which is on this meeting notice. Speakers will be limited
to three minutes during this item. There will be a thirty (30) minute
aggregate time limit for this item, and any speakers are encouraged
to sign up in advance with the City Clerk prior to their participation.
There was no public participation.
2. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. so. #6773 approving a three year
contract with the Federation of Public Employees (FPE),
District 1 MEBA (AFL-CIO) for the period 10/1 /93 through 9/30/96
subject to ratification by the FPE.
Mr. Kraft read from the title of the Resolution. V/M Katz MOVED to
APPROVE the Resolution, SECONDED by C/M Schreiber.
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Mayor Abramowitz said at the last workshop he was asked to adjourn the
meeting and, of necessity, call an executive session because the
gentleman who handles the City's labor negotiations had another
appointment and the staff felt it was important for him to tell the Council
what had transpired and what the proposed agreement was.
Mr. Noe said if the Council would like a brief overview the Personnel
Director is prepared to present one and the Administration recommends
the Council's approval of the Resolution.
C/M Schreiber said on page 17, Section 10.6, the last sentence has an
error where it says "be" and it should be "by". He said he would like
longevity payments on page 19 clarified to him. Larry DuPre said in
Section 11.5, the paragraph in question has been eliminated from the
contract and Section 11.4 is the end of that article. Mr. DuPre said the
other language was in the original contract and was merely there to set up
a method of payment when this was first enacted. He said the
representative of the Union pointed out to him that it was no longer
required so it has been eliminated. Discussion took place regarding
Section 11.5.
Mr. Du Pre said no other changes have been made to the document the
Council has except for typing errors. C/M Schreiber asked if paid time off
on page 21 was annual leave and Mr. Du Pre said it is a combination of
annual and sick leave.
C/M Schreiber asked how many days of sick leave there are or what is the
total paid time off for the first time employee from zero to five years.
Mr. Du Pre said Article 12 refers to paid time off and states paid time off
consists of two types of leave, paid time off and sick leave. He said some
years ago they chose to combine the two types of leave so when the
accumulation is shown it is the maximum accumulation of both types of
leave combined.
C/M Schreiber asked for the break down and how the City will establish
what the employee is entitled to accumulate in sick and annual time. He
said he knows the total is 27 but asked how it is broken up. Mr. Du Pre
said when they max out on their accumulated leave, any leave above the
count is leave that has no value as far as compensation. He said it is
there for the employees to use in the event of illness and they must have
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Doctor's certification for that extent and it is unlike the traditional
system where it says they have certain amounts of each. He said for
whatever reason they opted to combine the leave, which is not unusual and
many employers are doing this currently. He said if the leave is used for
sick leave there are provisions for it and the City says the employee can
only use Sick Leave, non-scheduled leave, in the event of illness or family
emergency.
C/M Schreiber said the Sick Leave comes off of the paid time off and Mr.
Du Pre agreed. C/M Schreiber said anything over the 280 hours or 520
hours is considered time off for Sick Leave and Mr. Du Pre agreed. C/M
Schreiber said the employees have the right to receive cash for certain
sums and it is not very clear how much. Mayor Abramowitz asked if, up to
a five year period, an employee would receive 27 paid days of combined
sick leave and annual leave and Mr. Du Pre said, yes. Mayor Abramowitz
asked when an employee takes five days off do they have to indicate
whether the time off is sick leave or time off and Mr. Du Pre said the
leave is all in one pot. Mr. Du Pre said when an employee takes any time
off it would come out of the pot and if it is regularly scheduled time off it
would normally be referred to as vacation leave when, in fact, it is just
time off.
Mayor Abramowitz said if an employee wants to take seven days off it is
not sick leave it is regular time off and V/M Katz asked how the employee
schedules to be sick ahead of time. Mayor Abramowitz said there is a
differential because after the 27 days have been used up and the employee
says they have sick leave they must provide proof that they are sick. Mr.
Du Pre agreed.
Mayor Abramowitz asked if the City would be better off in the future to
differentiate between the two particular types of leave because there are
people he knows that have had to take a great deal of sick leave and in the
future he would like Mr. Du Pre to make some recommendations to the
Council. He said he wants to be fair to the City and the employees because
he can see there is a difference between the two leaves. Mr. Du Pre said
greater minds have debated this topic and there are points on both sides
and he suspects the reasoning that went into this is that it is all leave.
Mr. Du Pre said the only reason why they require certification is to
prevent abuse from an employee getting up in the morning and calling in to
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say they are sick when they do not feel like coming to work and in those
instances verification is needed to prove that they were ill. He said he
will do as Mayor Abramowitz asked him to.
C/M Schreiber said if someone has 520 hours accumulated which is 65
days they can be out sick for that long as long as they are certified by a
Doctor. He said in essence the total can be used in any way and there is no
real difference because during the course of time they can sell it back to
the City or they can hold it and retire and collect whatever they have.
Discussion took place regarding paid time off.
Mr. Du Pre said leave above the cap is available to employees to use in the
event of illness but not for a vacation. C/M Schreiber said he would like
to see the employee earn a certain amount of time per year and be required
to use it by the end of the year. He said what happens with time,
eventually, the City has to pay out a good sum of money upon retirement
because they never really used all their time.
Mayor Abramowitz said C/M Schrei,ber's question was answered before and
the answer was that his statement was one side of the argument but the
other side is that if people have to use it or lose it then what happens
when someone has no time left and they get sick. C/M Schreiber said then
there will be a bank they can borrow from. He said what an employee
earns at one rate of pay and what they receive at another rate of pay is
different and Mayor Abramowitz said that is an abuse.
Mayor Abramowitz said he felt the City has made great strides in the
contract and a lot of things were done in the contract to correct many
abuses that were here before. He,said this is just as important as when
the steps were eliminated in the other labor negotiations that the City had
which were a horror.
C/M Schreiber asked what had happened to the Classification and Pay
Study and Mayor Abramowitz said it has to be sent out and finished.
C/M Schreiber said pages 23, 26, and 31 talk about part-time employees
and they receive benefits such as in Section 12.10 where it says they get
50% of all paid time off benefits. He said in private industry, part-time
employees do not receive any benefits and the City was generous enough to
give them half the benefits because they work only half the time. He said
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he thought this is ridiculous and in the future if the City keeps giving
away money the public will be outraged when the taxes increase. Mayor
Abramowitz said he would like to think that there are permanent part-
time employees for the benefit of the City and if there are not there is
something wrong. C/M Schreiber said it is the benefit of the part-timers
who work because that is their job and if the City did not need them it
would not have them. He said the City is operating contrary to normal
procedures.
Mr. Noe said it took him a long time to convert from the same thinking that
C/M Schreiber has and he feels part-time employment is a situation where
each side takes advantage of the other. He said the prevailing practice in
most places is that when they have permanent part-time employees the
trend has been to give them benefits.
C/M Schreiber said if there are permanent part-time employees the City
should have a full-time employee in their place and Mayor Abramowitz
said if the City only needs someone part-time why should they have a full-
time employee. C/M Mishkin said he thought C/M Schreiber was confusing
temporary with part-time and C/M Schreiber said he was not.
Mr. Du Pre said there is an additional IRS issue where employers have been
known to exploit people by hiring four part-time employees instead of two
full-time employees and not giving them any benefits. He said the IRS
looks upon that situation very unfavorably so this case is not only
reflecting the requirements of the IRS but also the requirements that
these are not seasonal or temporary personnel but people who have been
with the City for years.
V/M Katz said there is an error on page 1 1, Section 7.1, and suggested
"for" be added and Mr. Du Pre said "who" should be changed to "whom" in the
sentence in question.
V/M Katz asked where it is addressed that employees can borrow or take
sick leave against future employment or future time off and Mr. Du Pre
said he hoped it was not addressed. Ms. McDermott said it was not in the
contract. Discussion took place regarding C/M Schreiber's example of
borrowing time off.
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C/M Schreiber said it is not in the contract but is something that has been
used elsewhere where the employees can provide a fund to borrow to help
someone during bad times. Mr. Du Pre said even though it sounds
attractive the City would get involved in an accounting nightmare because
of the different wages and salaries of employees. V/M Katz said there
was no place that he saw the borrowing aspect and Mr. Du Pre said it was
not in the contract. V/M Katz said he wanted to make sure he did not miss
anything and Mayor Abramowitz said it was something that C/M Schreiber
stated as a suggestion.
Mayor Abramowitz said he agrees with Mr. Du Pre that it becomes a
nightmare because there are certain things on the surface that sound good
and when the City first took the Sheriff in, one of the horrors they had
was fifteen people in the police department on permanent disability. He
said this was costing the City a fortune and within three months after the
transfer from the police department to the Sheriff's department the
fifteen decreased to three. He said the City must look in the long-term
for a lot of things that are done and there is no one looking to take
advantage of anyone else but the City must look long-term. He said he was
delighted with the contract and V/M Katz agreed.
V/M Katz said historically the City has allowed for openers and he did not
see or want any and Mayor Abramowitz said if it is not here it is not part
of the contract.
Mayor Abramowitz asked for an approval of the contract as it has been
presented.
VOTE:
ALL VOTED AYE
I MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #6774 approving a settlement
concerning the City of Tamarac vs. Medics Ambulance Service.
Mr. Kraft read Temp. Reso. #6774 by title. C/M Schreiber MOVED to
APPROVE the motion, SECONDED by C/W Machek.
Mayor Abramowitz said the Council has discussed this at great length and
the indication was that they have agreed with the settlement. He said he
personally wants no settlement unless the City can be assured they are
covered 100% with the money because he has nightmares about someone
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going bankrupt two days after the deal has been made. He told Mr. Noe and
Mr. Kraft that the City has to be protected extra carefully.
Mr. Kraft said he had a letter dated June 27, 1994, from Peter Herman, the
attorney for Medics Ambulance, stating that if Medics defaults on payment
of the settlement, Medics and/or Malcolm Cohen agrees to pay interest and
attorney's fees concurrent to the collection of the money owed from the
date of default. Mayor Abramowitz asked if the letter meant that he is
going to go personal and V/M Katz said it does not say principal. Mr. Kraft
said the letter is what the City had so far and the language of the
documents will have to be clarified to make sure a personal guarantee is
made.
Mayor Abramowitz asked what Mr. Cohen had to say and Mr. Kraft said the
letter states what he had said and it is an indication of where they are on
the other side. Mr. Kraft said they are going to try to make the documents
clear that Mr. Cohen will be a personal guarantor. V/M Katz said the letter
only states that they will guarantee the attorney's costs and interest and
he wants a guarantee on the principal. He said the only guarantee given is
for the legal cost and the interest that may accrue on the $60,000 and he
would like to continue the claim for fraud until it is resolved. He said he
read the documentation and knows the City may not be in the best position
but anytime he goes into a negotiation he would like to go in from a
position of strength and it will give the City additional leverage to collect
their money. He said he would not like to see the Judge rule on it until
after the City has collected their money.
Mayor Abramowitz said either the City is going to settle this suit or it is
going to punish and if a settlement does take place then whatever actions
that the City has contemplated against Medics Ambulance they will insist
be dropped. Mr. Kraft said what the proposal contemplates is upon the
payment of the full amount, the lawsuit would be dropped and V/M Katz
asked if the lawsuit would be dropped after the payment in full.
Mayor Abramowitz said if there is no settlement the City should proceed
with the suit but currently the City Attorney will know the wishes and
feelings of the Council.
C/M Schreiber said even if the City does not get paid and there is no
settlement the matter will still be open. He asked if anyone has done a
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Bradstreet Report on the financial condition of Medics Ambulance and
Mayor Abramowitz said, no, but within the district he has been hearing a
lot of conversation. Mayor Abramowitz said he will not recognize rumor
because he hears all kinds of tales but he is interested that the City
Attorney, through legal representation, has made the City solid. He said
there is no give in this situation and if the City does not get everything
that has been brought before _the Council than there is no agreement. Mr.
Kraft said if the City does not get the full amount of money the
settlement will not take place.
Mayor Abramowitz said the Council is voting to approve a settlement
concerning Tamarac versus Medics Ambulance Service and the City
Attorney has been told in no uncertain terms how the Council feels.
VOTE:
ALL VOTED AYE
V/M Katz said as member of the City Pension Board he brought up at the
meeting that police officers who went with the Broward Sheriff's Office
(BSO) and who maintain their pension with Tamarac have been treated
unfairly by BSO in that in the event that they become disabled or partially
disabled they have not been put on light duty. He said there are other
people who started out with BSO who cannot walk and have been
maintained on light duty and he thinks these people should not be given
100% disability in the event that BSO should find light duty for them. He
said he thinks the City has been discriminated against and would like this
point to be raised during the negotiations that are currently ongoing with
BSO. He said he has backup that came in and he will make Mr. Noe aware.
Mayor Abramowitz said he absolutely disagrees with V/M Katz and does
not know if anyone was here when the transfer took place. V/M Katz
indicated he was. He said when the City transferred from their own police
department to BSO, the officers were told that it was their decision to
make on whether they should transfer or not. He said the ones that did not
transfer at that particular time there was no question that it was in their
best interest to transfer to the BSO but keep their pension in the City. He
said it meant a lot of money to them and they made their deal. He said he
does not want to discriminate against anyone but the fact is that he does
not want the Council to demand from BSO something that may cost them
money.
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V/M Katz said it is going to cost the City money and Mayor Abramowitz
agreed but said they made a deal and they were well aware of their
options. He said the ones who stayed with the City were people who were
long-time employees, who knew they would be much closer to their
pension time and would get more from the City than from BSO. He said the
new patrolmen who had only been with the City two or three years
immediately transferred to BSO.
V/M Katz said he disagreed with Mayor Abramowitz's concept but not what
he said. He said a woman deputy has a trigger finger from an accident and
she can now claim 100% disability and Tamarac will be paying for it. He
said there is no reason why a trained deputy policewoman cannot be put on
light duty. He said she can go out as a community aid after getting 100%
disability from this City and go to work for the BSO in a different
capacity that does not require her to carry a pistol and earn two salaries.
He said he does not think it is fair and feels it is an abuse, discrimination
and something that should be discussed during negotiations.
Mayor Abramowitz asked why BSO should add to their expense and V/M
Katz said they are not because this same woman can be offered a job as a
community aid. Mayor Abramowitz said the woman is making $40,000 per
year when a community aid can be obtained for $26,000. He said he wants
to be practical and does not want a give and take situation to occur. V/M
Katz said he hates openers and is only suggesting that if it did not work
for any other deputy than it should not work for one.
Mayor Abramowitz asked what mandates that she gets 100% disability
other than the vote of the Pension Board and V/M Katz said the criteria
that establishes what 100% disability is. Mayor Abramowitz asked who
determines the criteria. Mr. Du Pre gave an example of what V/M Katz was
discussing and said what he believes BSO is doing is saying that because
it costs them nothing to say someone is 100% disqualified and there is no
incentive for them to find them light duty because they are sent back to
Tamarac where they will pay the benefits, they will hire someone else at
a lower level of pay before finding light duty for a person.
Mayor Abramowitz asked who makes the determination whether this
person is 100% disabled and Mr. Du Pre said the doctors do. V/M Katz said
the criteria is established and two doctors have to be involved and Mr. Du
Pre said usually three are involved. Mr. Du Pre said the employee goes to
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their Doctor and gets told how disabled they are and typically the
employer will send the employee to their doctor for another opinion on
how disabled the person is. He said the third doctor is ultimately picked
by the employer and they prescribe the extent of the disability.
V/M Katz said the City currently has 22 or 23 more people who were
transferred from Tamarac police department to BSO and his concern is not
the past Pension Board meeting but what would happen if the other people
went on 100% disability and Tamarac will have to subsidize the shortfalls
of the Pension Fund. He said he would not like to see that happen and feels
the alternative is that there should not be any discrimination.
C/M Schreiber asked where the people are coming from and Mayor
Abramowitz said they are there now. C/M Schreiber asked if they were
old BSO employees and V/M Katz said, yes, and they used to work for
Tamarac. He said he understood only a few were accepted to stay in the
Pension Plan and the rest were in BSO and V/M Katz said there are still 22
or 23 more.
Ms. McDermott said when Tamarac went to the BSO, those individuals that
opted to stay within the Tamarac Pension Police Fund had already limited
the City because the City has no new recurring revenues into the Fund. She
said the only revenue source it has is the return on the City's investment
so regardless of the disabilities that will be received the City's exposure
is very great and it will continue whether it is a regular Pension or a
Disability Pension. She said the City is currently paying substantially
more than Fire and general employees based on the nature that it is a
closed unit and there is nothing that can be done to change that. She said
those individuals opted to stay within that program.
C/M Schreiber asked how many people were in the police department when
the transfer took place and Mayor Abramowitz said he thought there were
96. C/M Schreiber asked if of the 96 a certain amount opted to stay with
the City in the Pension and those are the ones the Council is discussing
and Mayor Abramowitz said, yes.
Mayor Abramowitz said the Pension situation has been an issue since he
has been an elected official in Tamarac. He said one of the first things
the new City Manager spoke about was the pension situation the City has.
He said everything he has seen shows that nothing can be done and he
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would like the Council to give direction to the City Manager to come up
with some recommendations on what the City can do to minimize their
exposure.
With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED the meeting at
10:45 a.m. 1
6t� aL "A`�4
Norman Abramowitz
Mayor
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Carol A. Evans, CMC
City Clerk J
CITY OF T,A MARAC
APPR D AT MEETING OF lo�
City Clerk