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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Civil Services Commission - 09/16/1993 CITY OF KENT CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MINUTES Thursday, September 16, 1993 at 4:00 p.m. Members present: Ron Forest Callius Zaratkiewicz Scheduling conflict: Raul Ramos Others present: Fire Chief Angelo, Firefighter Rideout, Police Chief Crawford, Chief Administrative Officer-Tony McCarthy,Lt Mitchell,Officer Britton,C/A Lubovich,Sue Viseth-Human Resource Analyst,Lt. Shepard,David Santos-Evidence Technician,A/C Berg, others present. Chairman Forest called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m. 1. COMMISSION BUSINESS: None. 11. REPORTS Assistant City Attorney, David Haenel- No report Fire Chief, Norm Angelo - The three recruits at the Academy are doing well and should be out in about two weeks. Police Chief, Ed Crawford - No report Human Resource Analyst, Sue Viseth- No report Ill. HEARINGS None. IV. OLD BUSINESS Chairman Forest motioned to approve the minutes from the August 19, 1993 Civil Service Commission Meeting. Seconded and carried. ChairnidnV qj$d ill,111 July 1511993 Civil Servi ► T was requeeWdJn tfNui' May s 1993 A' from Local 171547 fnWim0pnat A pin of Film Fps He then gave an update of what had transpired leading up to the,Resolution as reflected in prior Civil Services Minutes and reiterated that the organization structure remain the same, with three Assistant Chiefs. r r. Page 2 Civil Service Minutes September 16, 1993 Assistant C/A Haenal asked if Commissioner Zaratkiewicz had any opinions, comments or statements he'd like to add. Commissioner Zaratkiewicz stated that he agreed with Chairman Forest. Mr.McCarthy stated that he thought that he should present an Administration Report on the issue for the record. He referred to the report packet addressed later in the Agenda referring to Fire Department Staffing. Mr. McCarthy: "On May 18th City Council passed a Resolution 1348. tt was aimed at getting the City to a one stop Permit Center which is something that the City had long been desirous of doing. As a part of that Resolution and the packet that night, there was an Organizational Chart included in there that was marked up in this fashion. It basically said that the Code Enforcement Division basically had two sections. One Building, one Fire Marshall and then there were support people who supported both of them. This particular chart looked at taking the Fire Prevention group and some of the support people and combining them with the Training and Support Division which had a vacant Assistant Chief slot because that Assistant Chief had moved onto another position working on radios for the entire Southern part of the County through Valley Communications. So this was the plan that was to be implemented. Chairman Forest: "We had that information". Mr. McCarthy: "When you discussed it in Executive Session? Okay.' Chairman Forest: "I had that for the investigation, in fact I got that from you during my investigation." Mr. McCarthy: 'The second page looked at some Fire Department Staffing including this year and had shown the growth in staffing over that period of time when the City had grown quite a bit and the staffing of the department as a whole increased from 118 to 143. ft had been down in the last couple of years because of budget cutbacks and that sort of thing. The staffing with the Development Services out of the equation showed a staffing of about 134 because there were about 91/2 equivalent positions that were in Development Services. So that 134 level kind of equates to where we were in 1989 with 129 or 1990 with 146 or somewhere in that ballpark. At that time we had two Assistant Chiefs. During that time and since then the Assistant Chief in the Training had been spending a lot of his time in the radio and MDT area and actually had been part of the process with negotiating with Valley Communications to buy some of the Cl y's Radio systems. As a part of the process he did some analysis he did some analysis of the time he had spent and prepared a worksheet that is included in there that convinced Valley Communications that.. Chairman Forest: "We took that into consideration. We had that information.' Page 3 Civil Service Minutes September 16, 1993 Mr. McCarthy: "it looked like, at least from the time span, and I know this individual put in a lot of long hours, a lot of us work a lot of long hours. It looked like from that that maybe almost a 100% of his total salary dollar was charged to the radio project. We also did comparisons with other Cities and we know our Fire Department is not a Fire Department for a City of 40,000. it looks like a Fire Department for more like a city of 100,000, similar to Bellevue and Federal Way. Its even bigger than the Renton group. But we looked at the staffing there and Bellevue had two Assistant Chiefs and Renton had two Assistant Chiefs or Deputy Chiefs. Federal Way had four and we felt that based on that analysis and the consolidation that we were doing. There were going to,be less people in the organization than we had before. We feel like two Assistant Chiefs is what is needed in that department with the downsizing that is going on everywhere else6 I just wanted to put that into the report and say that as we prepare the 1994 budget,Administration will be looking to delete one of those Assistant Chiefs positions. Thank you." Chairman Forest: 'Thank you, Tony." Chief Angelo stated that he appreciated Mr. McCarthy's view on the matter. "1 think that if you considered all the facts that are in there. Since we are on the record I think that its important to review a couple of things. When A/C Kerns did leave, one way for us to account for selling the system was not to account for every little detail but then to proportionately show tl*ngs. I think that Mr. McCarthy was correct. A great deal of his time was spent there. However,to accomplish that,what had to take place was a lot of the people had to temporarily take up some slack. A lot of programs got put on hold. During that same period of time a lot of requirements from the State and other places started coming up. In addition, some of the basic safety requirements that are required in training are very important. One other point that relates back to the number of Chiefs in other departments. We looked at different classifications there. Those other departments also have Chief Officers that are in charge of that and other officers that are assigned on either permanent or rotation basis that allow for some continuity. That is really my basic concern. Also, prior to the Resolution that the Council passed, I had requested-that that position be filled. What we are doing in this process is going through a series of processes for the last year or so to figure out what possibilities might be there and what-night happen. I think that much as you concluded in your review and report I feel ver7,*V0ngly that it is very critical to have a Chief Officer in that position. Subsequently, prior to Pis, abort a year or so ago, and also recently to Mr. McCarthy,) related some alternatives that might assist us in getting there. Unfortunately there are a couple of other labor issues that are better suited for another spot that may interplay with some of this. Page 4 Civil Service Minutes September 16, 1993 My bottom line consideration and concern Is even with 134 people,those people must be adequately trained. Even more important, as the number of people go down, it becomes even more and more critical that the basic,the additionally required training,the certification take place. Without that we're putting people out there in a very unsafe environment and we're not arming them with the tools they need to accomplish the tasks that they are accomplishing. Therefore, our appreciation. 1 want to thank you for your findings. understand perfectly well the different perceptions on this. I do in my heart, honestly believe that the right way to go is to fill as originally we thought was asked, filling that position so that we can go forward and conduct the necessary training to keep people out in the field. The only other comment 1 have was that on last weeks Resolution 1 noticed that one of the Assistant Chiefs position was referred to as being assigned I think as Administration. In actuality that person has Fire Suppression and some apparatus maintenance responsibility. He does get covered in the Administration budget but the Division he's responsible for is the Suppression Division.' Chairman Forest: 'Yes, Dave took care of It. Anyone else? Fire Union? Lt. Shepard: 'No, Mr. Chairman'. Chairman Forest entertained the motion to Accept. Commissioner Zaratkiewicz motioned to ACCEPT INTO RECORD. Seconded and carried. The Chief Examiner questioned If they were accepting into record the amended Resolution. Assistant C/A Haenel then stated that he had provided the amended Resolution that changed the third Assistant Fire Chief to Fire Suppression/Administration which coincides with the 1993 Fire Department Organization Chart which the Commission will be referring to and entering into record. Chairman Forest OPENED FOR DISCUSSION the appeal to the 10-key adding machine portion of the Accounting Services Assistant 11 selection process. A/C Haenel: 'At the last meeting the Commission requested me to conduct an investigation with regards to alleged problems with the 10-key that was used in the testing for the Accounting Services Assistant 11 position. conducted that investigation using a city employee who is unrelated to Civil Service and the Police Department. That employee tested the machine and determined that, although it was somewhat old, it had no operational defects and basically worked fine. We are back to the situation where the original list needs to be certified." Page 5 Civil Service Minutes September 16, 1993 Chairman Forest: 'The appellants have been notified?' Chief Examiner: 'Yes Chairman Forest: "We haven't heard beck from them?' Chief Examiner: "No.' Chairman Forest: "We acted on that last time, did we not?' Chief Examiner: 'What wasn't stated was that if the findings on the:ten-key were all right, that the fist would then be certified. Therefore you would need to certify the list.' Commissioner ZaratkiewiQ motioned to certify the list that was eatiiiblished on August 10, 1993. Seconded and carried. V. NEW BUSINESS Chairman Forest motioned to ACCEPT INTO RECORD the letter August 19,1993 from Chief Crawford to Tye A. Holand confirming his appointment as.;er,,probationary Police Officer effective August 19, 1993. Seconded and carried. Chairman Forest motioned to ACCEPT INTO RECORD the memo,dated August 20, 1993 from Assistant City Attorney David Haenel to Catherine Guiguet',rigarding the Appeal Request to the 10-key Adding Machine used in the Accounting Servek=Asssidtant II testing process. Seconded and carried. Chairman Forest motioned to ACCEPT INTO RECORD the memo dated August 23, 1993 from the Civil.Service Examiner notifying each person appealing the Accounting Services Assistant 11 10-key adding machine, of the results of the investigation of said machine. Seconded and carried. Chairman Forest motioned to ACCEPT INTO RECORD the letter date dl,,Mgust 25,1993 from Chief Crawford to Officer Susan Tourtlotte notifying her of her succoWul completion of her probationary period effective August 24, 1993. Seconded and car Chairman Forest OPENED FOR DISCUSSION the letter dated -64plon4er 7, 1993 from Evidence Technician David Santos appealing his reclassification dl6on. C/A Haenel: 01 can provide some background. I believe Dave Sari submitted a letter to the Commission. First and foremost this is the proper form for deWriviination of his appeal under the Civil Service Rules and RCW's. The next step is that the Commission has to decide if they want to hear his appeal. If so, we can set the Appent,forl,the next meeting. We would then accept the letter into record' Page 6 Civil Service Minutes September 16, 1993 Chief Crawford: "I've talked to Mr. Santos and because of my lack of being able to communicate appropriately to Civil Service as well as to Human Resources. If there is any opportunity to put this over until next month, as long as he doesn't run out of the appeal time, he would be willing to put it over until next month so that i can communicate appropriately with Civil Service support staff as well as` Human Resources. I would appreciate this. I've discussed this with Mr. Santos." Chief Crawford was advised that Mr. Santos request for appeal had been entered into record within the required time period and therefore there were no longer any time constraints. Chairman Forest then tabled the item until the October 21 st meeting. The Civil Service Examiner questioned if that meant that the Appeal would be heard at the October meeting or that the findings would be presented at that time. Chairman Forest stated that they would make the decision whether or not to hear the Appeal at that time. C/A Lubovich: "My understanding is that it is an Appeal to the Civil Service Commission and that Human Resources has denied the Reclassification and it is also my understanding that the Chief has approved it. I don't want to speak for him, but the point is that there is some confusion as to who and what department has a role in reclasses. This has been going on and on for some time. I just want to make sure that its clear and that we all understand that under the Rules, the Chief of the department. The Police Chief In this case,.and the Civil Service Commission has to approve a reclass. The question is what happens with the effect of Human Resources denial of a reclass and thats still not clear. I've been researching today to see who has what authority. The upshot of the whole thing is that no reclass is effective until Council approves it, because its a budget item. You're changing a salary or position." Chairman Forest: "Until City Council approves it." C/A Lubovich: "Right, until City Council eventually approves it." Chief Examiner Guiguet: "1'd like to clarify that we did have a meeting regarding reclassification and where It sits. The outcome was that due to the fact that the Civil Service cannot approve a reclass due to the fact that they would hear the Appeal. The understanding from that meeting was that I would do the initial reclass and would either recommend approval or not and then send the findings to Human Resource if I approved. f would then go to Mr. Olson and he would either approve or disapprove. It he disapproved, then the person under Civil Service Rules, has the right to come before the Civil Service Commission and appeal the decision of Human Resource. That was worked out due to the fact that we were having so many problems with that. That is the system we have in place at this time." Page 7 Civil Service Minutes September 16, 1993 C/A Lubovich: 'Okay,so what we'll be doing at the next meeting is determining whether or not to have an Appeal from the reclass determination forwarded from Human Resources.' Chairman Forest: "If we want to accept the Appeal." C/A Lubovich: 'The Appeal has been filed. Whether or not you're going to go act on it you'll decide at the next meeting. Whether you'll act on the Appeal from Human Resources.' Chairman Forest: 'We'll hear from all parties next month and make a determination Sue Viseth, H.R. Analyst: 'If 1 may speak for just a moment. I am from Human Resources and conducted the analysis after Catherine submitted her report. I think something that is important to keep clear is that we're talking about classification, appropriate classification of a position. I think that what you have the authority, correct me If I'm wrong, Roger. Is to determine if indeed the Evidence Technician is appropriately classified which has nothing to do with salary at that point. That's what I want to make clear. I do have additional information to submit to the Commission. I don't know if this is the appropriate time.' C/A Lubovich: 'If I can add to that. Two comments real quick. That was the point that was to get earlier was that the Commission will hear the Appeal and make a determination, but the salary does have to go to Council for an adjustment.' H.R. Analyst Viseth: 'But the point is that it doesn't always mean that there is going to be a salary adjustment because someone is reclassified. You will need to determine whether or not indeed Mr.Santos is an Evidence Technician and fits into that classification. I go one step further and do a Market Analysis to determine if we're paying at the market rate for that and then 1 also do an Internal Equity Analysis to determine where that falls within the City. Thats the additional information that 1 have. My concern is, am I supposed to provide that information to the Commission or not?' C/A Lubovich: "What I've asked Assistant C/A Haenel earlier was should we gather the information,the application, the denials, whatnot and introduce them for the record. That its on record at least to what we've got today so that everybody knows whos involved,what the issues are,so that at the next meeting all appropriate parties can be present to discuss the matter before the Commission. I'd ask that the denials and whatever paperwork we have on it be introduced today if possible so that its on the record.' Chairman Forest: "Let me ask you just one question. Is that position represented by the Police Union?" H.R.Analyst Viseth: No, it is not Its a non-represented position,its not uniformed officer, corrections.' Page 8 Civil Service Minutes September 16, 1993 Chief Crawford then reiterated his request that the item be tabled for one month without a lot of data. He stated that the data might not be needed at all. To try and resolve the issues informally, before coming back formally to the Commission at the next meeting. Chairman Forest motioned to table the Santos request for Appeal until the October 21 st meeting. Seconded and carried. Chairman Forest motioned to ACCEPT INTO RECORD the Report from Mr.Tony McCarthy on Fire Department staffing. Seconded and carried. Chairman Forest: 'If there is no other business we will adjourn Chief Angelo questioned If the Resolution had been entered into Record? The Resolution was Identified as Number 1. Commissioner Zaratkiewicz motioned to approve and accept Resolution#1 into the Record. Seconded and Carried. Chairman Forest: 'No other business has come before the Commission, we will adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. The next Civil Service Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 21, 1993 at 8:00 a.m. in Council Chambers West. Respectfully submitted, Catherine M. Guiguet, Secretary & Chief Examiner Approved: Ron Forest, Chairman ,I RESOLUTION NO. 1 A RESOLUTION of the Civil Service Commission of the City of Kent, Washington, recommending to the Kent City Council that the Kent Fire Department be restructured. WHEREAS, the City of Kent Civil Service Commission was requested by Local 1747 International Association of Fire fighters (I.A.F.F. ) to investigate the current organizational structure of the Kent Fire Department; and WHEREAS, the City of Kent Civil Service Commission Chairman, Ron Forest conducted an investigation of the organizational structure of the Kent Fire Department; NOW, THEREFORE, THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF THE CITY -OF KENT, WASHINGTON, DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: That the Civil Service commission of the, C,ity of Kent recommends to the Kent City Council that the organizational structure of the Kent Fire Department be reorganized, and that an Assistant Fire Chief be assigned to oversee Fire Prevention, that s a second Assistant Fire Chief be assigned to oversee Training and Support, and finally that a third Assistant Fire Chief be assigned to oversee Fire Suppression/Administration. Passed at a regular meeting of the' City of Kent Civil Sery Commission, 16th day of September, 1993 . �v Ref N FOREST COMMISSIONER ALLIUS Z TKIEWICZ COMMISSIONER ATTEST: O Catherine Guiget Chief Examiner/Civil Service Secretary APPROVED AS TO FORM: �.AVIDHAENEL, ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY cvilser.res