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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-06-30MINUTES CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH 7:00 p.m. - Central Library Rooms C and D 7111 Talbert Avenue Huntington Beach, California Monday, June 30, 1997 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Bauer called the adjourned regular meetings of the City Council and the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Huntington Beach to order at 7:00 p.m. in Rooms C and D, Central Library. MOMENT OF SILENCE IN MEMORY OF JOE BARRON, DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY Mayor Bauer, with regret, announced the sudden passing of Deputy City Attorney Joe Barron. A moment of silence was held in Joe's memory. CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ROLL CALL Present: Julien, Harman, Dettloff, Bauer, Sullivan, Green, Garofalo Absent: None PUBLIC COMMENTS There were no persons in the audience wishing to address the City Council. (CITY COUNCIL) STUDY SESSION - MEETING BETWEEN THE CITY COUNCIL AND HUNTINGTON BEACH EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATIONS TO DISCUSS TOPICS OF GENERAL INTEREST Mayor Bauer announced that this was the time scheduled for a meeting between the City Council and the Huntington Beach Employees Associations pursuant to a letter written by the'City Administrator dated June 20, 1997 extending an invitation from the City Council to the city employees. The following representatives from each employees' organization were present to address Council: W Page 2 - Council/Agency Minutes - 06/30/97 Roger Ham, President, Management Employees' Organization; Greg Caswell, President, Municipal Employees' Association; Eric Dieterman, President, Surf City Lifesaving Employees' Association; Steve Reuter, President, Marine Safety Officers' Association; Bill Mamelli, President, Police Management Association; Donald Boland, President, Firefighters' Association; Richard Wright, President, Police Officers' Association. Roger Ham, President of the Management Employees' Organization, distributed a roster of the Huntington Beach Management Employees' Organization membership. He commented on the diverse departments which have employees in MEO membership. The document showed the structure of the organization. Mr. Ham stated he believed the operative word of a public employee is "servant." He spoke regarding the commitment of the members of the MEO as well as employees in other city employee organizations. Mr. Ham spoke regarding the concerns of the MEO, including the hope that Council will consider such items as "cafeteria plan" benefits, flex time and other items. Greg Caswell, President of the Municipal Employees' Association, addressed Council and stated the membership of their association consisted of nonmanagement, nonsafety employees. He stated that MEA employees work in departments such as the Police Department, Public Works Department, City Library, etc. Mr. Caswell stated that in the 90's there have been problems being a city employee such as that there is a perception that employees are overpaid when 90% of the employees qualify for low-income housing. Nick Bernardino, Orange County Employees' Association representative, addressed Council and stated that even through difficult circumstances such as the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) issue, the employees kept right on doing their jobs. He presented a slide entitled UCLA Wage Compensation Forecast, California Economic Indicators, Orange County Executive Survey. He spoke regarding the privatization issue. He presented a slide showing 14 safeguards which should be put in place in order to have a level playing field such as a ban on contractors' campaign contributions to politicians, assurance that contractors and employees will not be a burden on social'services, competitive bidding on contracts every two years, etc. Mr. Bernardino stated that if all these are in place, the public employee can do the job better as motive for monetary profit is not there. Eric Dieterman, President, Surf City Lifesaving Employees' Association, stated that his association's accomplishments with the city in the past year have not been too great; only sand mounds, reimbursement for requalification testing and other minimal accomplishments. He presented the goals of the organization. Mr. Dieterman stated that the increase in beach events without an increase in the beach budget is a concern of the association and gave the example of the air show and the women's volleyball events. He stated that nine million people are watched on the beaches with 2,000 rescues and no loss of life which is a great accomplishment. He stated that the majority of rescues were made by recurrent staff. Mr. Dieterman stated that they believe they are in the front line risk management and assist the city in avoiding negative publicity; for example, the five lives which were lost in the Florida surf some time ago. 91 06/30/97 - City Council/Redevelopment Agency Minutes - Page 3 Steve Reuter, President, Marine Safety Officers' Association, stressed that nine million people are served with zero drownings and stated that this is a very impressive accomplishment. He informed Council that the MSOA is understaffed by three positions and that overtime pay is going through the roof and causes burnout of the employees and problems at home for employees. He stated that lifeguards are not on duty at night and when someone has too much to drink, firemen are put in the position of jumping off the pier and they are not equipped to do so. He questioned where the money for the new lifeguard tower and British Petroleum litigation money has gone. He stated that he would like to see the beach budget increased for trash collection and facilities. He applauded Council for the Pier Plaza Project. Mr. Reuter spoke regarding the importance of improving the beach bike path and rest rooms. The City Administrator stated that the revenue from the British Petroleum litigation has not yet been received and hopefully in six months it will be. Councilmember Garofalo requested that comparative statistics on beach safety such as drowning statistics be presented. Bill Mamelli, President, Huntington Beach Police Management Association, spoke regarding the structure of the PMA. He spoke regarding the fact that the PMA has fewer managers than in 1974. Mr. Mamelli stated that he is confident that the review that the Council has ordered of the Police Department will show management is understaffed. He spoke regarding the competitive process to reach a police management position. Mr. Mamelli stressed the importance of the impact of Council policy on the PMA which lasts for years. Mr. Mamelli stated that the ability of the department to attract the highest quality personnel is eroding. Don Boland, President, Firefighters' Association, stated that employee bashing was a problem in the city and we need to move on. He spoke regarding their goals of service. to the community. Mr. Boland stated that the Public Works Department, Police Department and Marine Safety are always there for the Fire Department employees and stressed how much this fact is appreciated by the Fire Department personnel. He stated the number of employees who were looking elsewhere for employment. He stated that the Firefighters' Association's morale would be lifted if they knew they had the support from Council. He spoke regarding the need for a city personnel policy to be developed relative to candidates' lists to be maintained for call -in to relieve current employees. Richard Wright, President, Police Officers' Association, addressed Council regarding the problem of the ability to attract and retain qualified police officer candidates. Mark Reid, Counsel for the Huntington Beach Police Officers' Association, distributed a document titled Huntington Beach Police Officers' Association Briefing to the City Council on Salary Negotiations and the City's Competitive Position dated June 30, 1997. He reviewed portions of the report including, law enforcement-4 1 citizen priority, surveys, police officer competitive position survey --Orange County agencies, status of competition and City of Huntington Beach's current offer and effect on ability to compete, analysis of Huntington Beach competitive position, ending with what's the bottom line?; how can Huntington Beach provide top quality service economically? Page 4 - Council/Agency Minutes - 06/30/97 Councilmember Green questioned Mr. Reid as to where he could find information and more detail and Mr. Reid replied that the League of Cities had material available. Discussion was. held between Council, Mr. Reid and the City Administrator regarding the cities used in the surveys. Councilmember Garofalo stated that he would like to look at the data in a study session. He stated that he would like to have two columns added as follows: cost per capita and ratio per capita. The City Administrator encouraged the associations to submit anything they would like in writing to the City Council. He stated that the Personnel Department's procedures would be reviewed relative to process. He spoke regarding the difficulty of public employees receiving unfair criticism and the difficulty in responding to unfair criticism during televised Council meetings. The City Administrator stressed city employees have pride in the work they perform. ADJOURNMENT - CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY The Mayor adjourned the adjourned regular meetings of the City Council and the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Huntington Beach to the regular meetings of Monday, July 7, 1997 at 5:00 p.m. in Room B-8, Civic Center, 2000 Main Street, Huntington Beach, California. ATTEST: -� City Clerk/Clerk 4 City C erVand ex-officio Clerk ethe City Council of the City of Huntington Beach and Clerk of the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Huntington Beach, California 9441,e 449U64!�— — r " Major/Chairman 93