HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations - 05/16/1988 i
OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES
May 16, 1988
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Christi Houser
Paul Mann Q 1g
STAFF PRESENT: Brent McFall ,( go
Tony McCarthy
Mike Webby
Charles Lindsey
May Miller
Tom Vetsch
OTHERS PRESENT: Jackson Carter Arai/Jackson Architects
APPROVAL OF VOUCHERS
All claims for the period ending May 16, 1988, in the amount of $10322,641 .42
were approved for payment.
INTRODUCTION OF CENTRAL SERVICES SUPERVISOR
Finance Director, McCarthy introduced the new Central Services Supervisor, Tom
Vetsch. Tom came to the City after 18 years in the banking industry where he
served in multiple functions, but part of the duties involved that of being a
purchasing agent and the building facility manager. Tom's experience in both
those areas will be vital to the City, in addition, to his expertise in
computerized banking applications.
COUNCIL CHAMBER REMODEL
City Administrator, McFall introduced Jackson Carter of Arai/Jackson
Associates, who presented an updated version of the Council Chamber remodel ,
based upon additional discussions with City Administrator McFall . A copy of
the recommended remodeling diagram plus the remodeling budget totaling $67,000
were presented to the Council Committee.
Discussion following the presentation noted that the changes described could
be completed in two months following the award of the contract and that during
the two month interim period, the Council would probably hold meetings outside
of City Hall , possibly in conjunction with meetings in various areas of the
community. It was also noted in discussing the budget that the audio system,
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Operations Committee Minutes
May 16, 1988
Page 2
though not included in the $67,000 budget, would be done in conjunction with
the improvements to the Council Chambers; and that any video enhancements
would be negotiated as a part of the upcoming negotiation on the cable TV
franchise for Kent.
Following this discussion, Council member Mann made a motion to accept the
proposal with one change, that being the City Clerk's staff position be
exchanged with those of the department head staff. This item was approved on
a 2 to 0 vote and recommended for a discussion at the Council meeting of
May 17. The architect noted that he could provide revised drawings for that
meeting.
WORKERS COMPENSATION CLEARING ACCOUNT AUTHORIZATION
Finance Director, McCarthy told the committee that the State Auditor's Office
had discovered in reviewing the City's Workers Compensation Clearing Account
that the staff had not obtained a formal approval from the Council in setting
up this clearing account. The item had been discussed with the committee
approximately two years ago and the initial account was established with a
zero balance. The process calls for Scott Wetzel , the City's Claims
Administrator, to prepare the checks and forward them to the City for approval
by the City's Personnel Department. Following their approval , a check is
issued from the City's main account to reimburse the claims account for the
total amount of the checks. To avoid the possibility or an overdraft it was
decided that the clearing account, which processes claims totaling
approximately $90,000 per year needed an established balance, currently
$2,000. The committee saw no problem with this practice and recommended that
the authorization be shown on the Consent Calendar at an upcoming Council
meeting.
WCIA 1988/1989 EXCESS INSURANCE PROGRAM
Assistant City Administrator, Mike Webby explained to the committee that the
68 member Washington Cities Insurance Authority (WCIA) had met last week both
Operations Committee Minutes
May 16, 1988
Page 3
in executive session and as a group and decided to recommend that the WCIA go
bare on its excess insurance coverage. Two quotes have been received prior to
the meeting from Cal Union, the current excess insurance provider and Reliance
Insurance Company. The quotes for excess coverage of $5 million were between
a million and two million a year. Based on the fact that the Authority in its
eight years of existence, having paid 3,000 claims, has never paid a claim
over a million dollars and it has no claims currently registered that have a
potential to exceed a million dollars, it was decided to save the insurance
premium providing its own excess coverage. To do this the Authority
established for itself the same excess insurance coverage of $5 million that
would have been provided with a purchase of insurance. The information was
brought to the committee as a point of information following past discussions
with the committee on providing the City's own excess coverage.
TEAMSTER UNION/MECHANIC LEAD WORKER SALARY RECOMMENDATION
At a previous committee meeting the committee authorized the establishment of
a lead mechanic in the Public Works Equipment Rental Division. Following that
approval a study of wages paid such a position was conducted with the Cities
of Auburn, Bellevue, Kirkland, Olympia and Renton. Based on a review of these
cities and with the City's own internal equity for positions, a pay range of
30 is recommended for this position. A pay range 30 places the position 3rd
from the top in the six cities including Kent and is 3 steps above the City's
current mechanics salaries. Based on these criteria, the staff is
recommending that this position be placed in the pay scale at a pay range 30,
which tops out at $2,664 per month. The Committee approved the recommendation.
TEAMSTER UNION-RELEASE OF POSITION JURISDICTION
Assistant City Administrator, Webby explained to the committee that he had
made a request of the Teamster's Union to release three supervisory type
positions. Two positions were in the Public Works Department and one was the
Field Customer Services Supervisor in the Finance Department. The union
approved two of the requests, the one in Finance and the Operations Computer
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May 16, 1988
Page 4
Control Room position occupied by George Jett in the Public Works Department,
the other Public Works position was considered by the Union to be not a
supervisor position but a technical position and one they felt that they
should still cover. Based upon this request from the Union, Mike will be
preparing a salary range study for the two positions authorized, to be coming
out of the union. It was noted in his presentation that these two positions
supervise other union personnel and that is the prime reason for them being
pulled out. It was noted in the questioning, that the employee benefit plan
for the nonunion members would be approximately the same as if they were union
but a salary study must be done based on the reclassifications.
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