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MINUTES - Executive - 4/12/2007 CITY OF SALEM APRIL 12, 2007 EXECUTIVE SESSION A Regular Meeting of the City Council was held in the Council Chamber on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 7.00 P.M. for the purpose of transacting any and all business, at which time, the City Council, by recorded roll call vote, went into Executive Session with the Mayor for an update on the status of collective bargaining discussions with various municipal unions. Notice of this meeting was posted on April 6, 2007 at 10.31 A.M. Council President Matthew Veno presided. Councillor Veno stated this meeting is in regards to collective bargaining for the Fire Fighters Union. Mayor Driscoll and Solicitor Rennard are present. Councillors O'Keefe and Sargent recused themselves and left the room. Council President Veno then called upon the Mayor, to address the Council. The Mayor gave highlights of the contract with the Fire Fighters Union. The Fire Fighters have been without a contract for three years. We have been in discussions for several months. If a community cannot reach an agreement the City or the Union or jointly could contact the Joint Labor Management Committee as a mediator. The JLMC is strictly for Safety Unions. It was talked about using the JLMC because we were far apart. It takes 18 months to 2 years time frame before a decision is reached. Every other Union settled. Typically the JLMC try and stay consistent with what's been offered in other unions. That would only be for one contract and we would be at square one again in a year. Prior actions from past administrations, was unfair labor practice complaints in the manner of funding budgets and overtime. As part of the agreement we were able to agree on the staffing agreement in the Union contract which is now at 95. This is a problem if we have to balance the budget, we would have to make large cuts. If we are going to go through this we wanted to do a contract for 2 years from the past contract and a 3 year contract for now. State law you cannot exceed a 3 year contract. We need to deal with the staffing language. Union realized we weren't able to staff 95 or even 88. Add firefighters 1-2-3 each year. We were able to agree on this. Councillor Veno stated it's an absolute increase, any we loose we will replace. Councillor Prevey asked if the Ordinance states we are required to staff 95? Solicitor Rennard stated yes, we need to amend the ordinance after this. CITY OF SALEM 2 APRIL 12, 2007 EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Driscoll continued this was critical to resolve. The other requirement was overtime, the language is not clear. There are certain times when you need overtime, sick leave etc. Their contract guarantees overtime. Guaranteed overtime is perceived differently in different communities. In Salem it's to back fill as needed. There are times when there is no one to fill a shift. It is contractual, but there are a lot of times when we don't fill it because we don't have the funding. We're hoping not to have overtime numbers that will spike up. The Chief has to create a consistent schedule and he knows when he has to back fill if there is a lengthy illness or an unscheduled retirement. Sometimes we have shifts that no one will work, they're not as attractive. Health Insurance is a benefit to employees, negotiations bring unions 75/25 split as of July 1, 1% next year, 2% etc. Sick Leave buy back is currently 90 days, we want to reduce the number of sick days to 70. Four step system for new employees hired as firefighters. Right now if you're hired you are at step one automatically you have a step increase at second year you're at step two, etc. We wanted to lengthen the schedule to 4 years, 90% of step 1, 80 % at step 2, 90% of step 3 and fourth year they are at final step 100%. It's a savings over the three years. We have no-one interested in serving these jobs so with the savings we would like to bring the base salary up to where it should have been if they had settled the contract, 2 '/2 2 '/2 and 2% as of July 1, it would bring their base salary up to where it should be if they had settled like the other union contracts. The next three years would be 2%, 2%, 2% on the base pay. We will need an appropriation, there will be no retro on overtime. Councillor O'Leary asked if they have signed yet? Mayor Driscoll stated that it's not signed yet. It's a tentative agreement. We need to fund it first. Councillor O'Leary stated this is an Executive Session do not talk about this outside. Mayor Driscoll stated that the teachers have no contract and we are in mediation with them. And we are talking also with the other unions. Councillor Sosnowski stated as of July 1st the firefighters will have 9% increase in their pay. Mayor Driscoll stated that is correct. CITY OF SALEM 3 APRIL 12, 2007 EXECUTIVE SESSION Councillor Sosnowski stated so 7% is for previous contract. He asked which unions have the sick leave buy back. Mayor Driscoll stated the Fire and Police are the only ones that have sick leave buy back. Solicitor Rennard interrupted and stated AFSCME people get sick leave buy back also. Councillor Pelletier stated that Councillors should increase their insurance contribution. I want to set a good example. Councillor O'Leary stated that will happen. Mayor Driscoll stated that exempt employees will be following the same formula as the fire. Councillor Pelletier asked if Councillor O'Leary was in favor of the increase. Councillor O'Leary stated yes when the increase is done for the rest. Mayor Driscoll asked that this not be discussed on the outside as she has not talked with the department heads yet. Councillor Lovely asked do we fund the budget at 88 fire fighters? Mayor stated 88 is the goal. At the end of the contract we need to amend the ordinance. It should say the same as the contract. Eighty-eight is the goal. Councillor Sosnowski stated he would rather see an increase in the co-pay. Councillor Pelletier stated again that we don't discuss this outside of this room. Councillor Prevey commended the Mayor, Solicitor and Finance Director for their hard work. Councillor O'Leary agreed with the previous speaker. Mayor Driscoll stated that we are starting far apart with the teachers in mediation, hopeful to reach agreement. Fire agreement may help with negotiations, 7% increase for the Fire Dept is $240,000. In comparison a 1% increase for teachers is $270,000. There is a much bigger impact with teachers. In August, it will be one year. Half of the bargaining unit reached a step increase in this fiscal year (teachers have 8 steps system). We have a large group at the difference between step 7 and step 8 which is CITY OF SALEM 4 APRIL 12, 2007 EXECUTIVE SESSION $10,000, it's a huge bump up. This was done in previous administration to attract good teachers. Now most of them are at step 8, they're maxed out and are looking for more of an increase. AFSCME negotiations start May 3rd. We have AFSCME Schools and AFSCME City Hall. They are all calling. By June 30t" we may not have all groups done before budget is due. We may set aside funds in the Human Resource Budget as contingency. Councillor Veno asked what would you call the line item in the HR budget so we can identify it during budget meetings. Mayor Driscoll stated we want to include it in the operational budget, I'm not sure what we'll call it. Councillor Corchado asked when would it be final for Fire Dept. Mayor Driscoll stated that the lawyers are working on the language. It won't be long. On the motion of Councillor Pelletier the Executive Session was adjourned by roll call vote of 9 yeas, 0 nays, 2 absent and the regular meeting continued. Councillors Sosnowski, Prevey, Pelletier, O'Leary, Lovely, Furey, Corchado, Blair and Veno were recorded as voting in the affirmative. Councillors Sargent and O'Keefe were recorded as absent. ATTEST: CHERYL A. LAPOINTE CITY CLERK