Common Council - Regular Meeting

hey Richard how you doing there you go good yeah good jump right back in okay we're going to get uh get started here right so welcome to the February 26th caucus and work session of the AL Comm Council uh Miss Jackson please call the R Adams anani ballerin Clark is out um for work purposes uh phell excuse me Cony frell Flynn Frederick is also out for work purposes um Hoy here Johnson pres Keegan uh kimra here love Robinson zamer here we have eight council members uh present we're also joined and five absent excuse me we're also joined by council president Corey Ellis myself sheno Jackson city clerk um legislative Aid or excuse me Junior policy analyst Alysa Kamara and Deputy uh Corporation councel Brent Williams okay thank you so um any agenda skipp into approval of minutes from a previous meeting I'll be offering the February 20th 2025 meeting

minutes so we got no local laws no ordinances onto resolutions introduced a resolution by Miss love uh to commemorate March of 2025 as women's history month that's 1331 25 I would imagine we're all going to be co-sponsors on that so can you take care of that for us we'll be moving forward with that and that's it for the agenda so but wait but we we are anticipating not anticipating we have plan for Miss um Keegan to to as the the chair of the ethics and Workforce culture at her committee she's going to do like a 15minute presentation yeah okay so she's she's she's on her way stuck she says she's stuck in traffic so so the clock is ticking right so understandable yeah oh at the the re the the what what the hell is it called the all right so so with that we're we're done with with our agenda so we're we're good good to go with that we're just awaiting Miss Keegan we don't yeah we're just receiving even we're not that's going to be three of us here by the time she gets

[Music] here yeah we don't thing is we don't need a quum for her to run through her report do we miss Mr no no I mean technically technically if you all want to ask questions about the report then we should have a quorum but we just won't ask questions just to have the uh report just to you know be given the report no you don't need quum she's not she's on her way and for the record we're joined by council member frell so I mean to get into the intricacies of of the open meetings law issue with Quorum any discussion or consideration that may lead to or leads to uh action by the body is supposed to happen when there's Quorum so you know if there would be some legislative action or action by the council that might come out of discussing this uh report then we should only do it if should only have that discussion if there's Quorum but if there's no legislative action that's likely to come out of it then you can get away without having quum so take that under advisement as you

will e e for e

yes you are carry on okay so sorry everyone um so we worked pretty diligently but had a very sort of short timeline for our first report um the committee was established in September of 2024 um and we worked um throughout the fall to at least start to gather um an understanding of what the allegations um against uh being made by our city Workforce were um and I have put together this presentation for you which is very brief and very general there's a lot more information in the report um but our uh legislation that created the committee does require that we submit a report um in December of each year so we apologize for being a few months late but without further Ado I will um get right into it so I just wanted to touch on the opening introduction because we did provide you all with quite a bit of information about um how our civil rights process works um in the barriers um in place for everyday common individuals being able to enforce those civil rights um while people have access to um the Equal Employment Opportunity Center at the federal level and the New York state division on human rights at the state level ultimately um they will get a right to

sue letter and they will need to have the means to find an attorney to be able to proceed in court in litigation so if they have an employer that's unwilling to act on their behalf that can certainly become a really significant barrier to enforcing the civil rights that um are guaranteed to us under state and federal law um we also provided you in this report with a pretty uh General overview of what is in um the blue collar workers contract with the city um it does provide and outline the standards for Progressive discipline and summary discipline um summary discipline essentially means that um once they've read reached a certain point discipline can be imposed without the ability to grieve um and their contract does allow for summary discipline to essentially restart after refraining from conduct uh for a period of time the remainder of their contract um is really pretty heavily reliant on article 75 of New York State Civil Service law um which is an overarching protection um for most government workers in New York state um under article 75 whether you have Union representation or not um you are allowed to have an attorney or some form of representation with you when you're being questioned with regards to matters of discipline and if you're being terminated um from government employment under article 75 most employees um outside of certain appointments um are allowed to proceed with litigation under what's called an

article 78 proceeding in New York state so um their contract relies very heavily upon that component of New York State Civil Service law um we noted in that report um that there are certain um discriminatory sections within the contract itself which is something that was created back in 1980s um one of the glaring things um was that parental leave was only guaranteed to pregnant employees under their contract so no adopted families no Foster families um and no one who is a non-b birthing parent has necessarily access to that parental leave within their contract um it also doesn't really fully address standard work weeks um standard shifts doesn't really provide for uh notice with regards to changing employee shifts or work hours um and that seemed to to Bubble up as a routine source of concern for union members that were coming before the council um while we as a council body don't have the ability to negotiate those things on their behalf it is um something that we would recommend the city consider addressing in any future contract negotiations to do that both the union and the city will have to agree to open those Clauses um you know and have to would have to come to understanding on that language but it it was a little unusual uh in my review um that there weren't these sorts of aspects in the contract as most shift work um requires most most unions who have workers that are doing shift work will require that

there is some sort of notice to employees if you're going to move them from working overnights to a day shift or an evening shift um so that they have the ability to reorganize their lives in order to accommodate that that shift movement um so we met on September 25th and December 4th uh we received public comment during those meetings outlining numerous allegations which are all summarized in the report that we provided to you um we also as committee members received reports privately from members of City staff and members of the public um that uh occurred outside of those meetings we advocated for and secured $75,000 for the office of audit and control to conduct an audit into the allegations received during this past fiscal year we put forth a resolution that was passed by the council body to secure documents based upon the allegations set forth during public comment um to date we're still waiting for the city to complete um its redaction process for those documents so some of them involved personal information that is not necessarily entirely relevant to the work of the body so for example one of the things that we received were concerns about differentiation and treatment with regards to unscheduled absences from work between workers of color um and white workers and we would need to verify whether there are um exent medical circumstances or medical documentation that the union may not be aware of or other union members may not be aware of but we don't

necessarily need to know what the docu what the the diagnosis of that particular staff member was um so Corp Council Brett has been very busy going through tons and tons of paperwork um I I did receive word from Rob McGee I want to say last week um that they are ready for us to to start to come in to begin that review process um we also worked with um administrative services to update and streamline our policies and procedures related to reporting and investigating allegations of harassment and discrimination one of the initial things that we found was that the city had an um what what we would commonly refer to as an EOC handbook but then they also had their overarching policy and procedure manual and the reporting procedures for folks who were re uh concerned or wanted to make an allegation regarding harassment and discrimination in the workplace were vastly different between the handbook and the policy and procedure manual um one area required that departments forward those allegations to Human Resources um and one of the entities required that they do their own investigation so one of the things that we did manage to accomplish um even in just a short period of time was to have the city actually review those two documents and come up with one comprehensive policy um our goals for this upcoming year um include obtaining and reviewing the requested records to assist in determining the the depth and scope of the proposed audit to be conducted determine the process for which

probationary termination lesser discipline and discipline that is more serious is determined um again this seems to be based upon the reports that we received decisions that are being made primarily with human resources that are embedded within departments that are not necessarily corresponding back with um our administrative services department and that may be very critical information to have in terms of assisting the city in ensuring that there are um there is a level and fair playing field for everyone continue to receive concerns from current and former city employees um work with the chief City auditor to develop a request for proposal for the ethics and Workforce culture audit maintain open communication with City Administration to ensure that matters requiring immediate attention are addressed um research best practices for managing allegations of harassment and discrimination and improving Workforce culture and make appropriate recommendations to the administration and determine the standards for nepotism within the city of Aly and how that may be best addressed through legislation with regards to the city's ethics or internal policy because that again seem to be yet another area of concern that was brought forth by um the city's Union is who who has access and who does not have access um or relationship within um those departments and based upon all of that um I think there [Music] are several potential avenues for the scope of the RFP I'm not

sure that we will be able to for what we budgeted be able to have them look at all of these things um and I I I think all of our committee members welcome your feedback on the direction for this based upon what you read in this report um but that would include a review of overtime records with corroborating documentation such as vehicle logs and GPS data to assertain if there's evidence to support the allegations regarding the trade of quote unquote no-show overtime for quote unquote bottle service meaning the trade of drugs alcohol and sexual Services financed through the city's payroll which which was one of the uh most common allegations that the committee received um a review of promotions to determine if employees are receiving promotional advancement that they are not qualified for when their are qualifying candidates were denied such promotions I would say that that was probably the second most common theme that we heard um in all of the testimony that we received a review of discipline to determine if the contract is applied consistently and fairly across the workforce um and then I think the other piece that we heard a lot was the differential treatment Andor quote unquote shop talk um to address how employees experience the work environment and the one thing I included in this report that I think is important for the body to understand is that again going back to article 75 of civil service law um if if we were to do an RFP the timeline at which we're asking people to go back from um is probably going to be critical because under article 75 you can't go on a fishing Expedition I can't

go back to 2019 and say that this person did this bad thing six years ago you have 18 months um to issue charges and that is you know that is certainly something that we need to consider and we need to ensure that um the folks that are approaching us are are also aware of in terms of what what can actually be done in response if we do find evidence however that timeline may not apply to certain types of criminal activity so for example if in fact there is evidence to support that people are receiving no- show overtime you know it it's a felony count for every time they clock in and don't work um there are also significant violations for public officers law involved in that scheme should it come come to be that there's evidence to support that that would sort of change the the game so to speak if there were any kind of criminal charges levied against departmental staff in relation to the allegations that we received and I didn't necessarily want to take a lot of your time tonight so if you folks have questions or if you want to have a discussion about what's contained in the report um questions Mr Cony can you speak into your microphone sorry so a week because we're recording thank you okay so I'm going back to the uh the um the slide on the ask me contract and the last bullet regarding um where you

make recommendations that the city and Union consider addressing uh these issues which meaning the ones in the aform mentioned U the prior bullet so the question really is to what extent do we know if any that either party has brok up any of those issues in Prior negotiations we don't know um I don't believe that the union has necessarily looked at their contract from the same lens that our committee looked at the contract right because because our our our role and our goal was really to broadly look at our people experiencing harassment and discrimination in the workplace and there were certainly some things that that stood out to us as you know being structurally inept even in in how the contract was structured we can only make that recommendation because under you know collective bargaining standards we cannot direct Council or or um the blue CER Workers Union to agree to crack open that Clause I I would hope that they would be willing to consider having a discussion and and coming to a broader agreement the question becomes you know because that that uh parental leave guarantee I think is like six months and and no one else in the city has access to that length of leave is the city going to come back and say we'll fix the language but we're give we're taking away the six months and therefore no one wants to to actually negotiate to address that um the other the other pieces you

know it does not have to necessarily be specifically hashed out in the contract exactly what that shift work and or um work hours but typically it's it's relegated to notice and typically what I've seen in other la management contracts is that there's at least a deferral to the labor management process for further negotiation so you you could have the blue collar workers union have multiple different memorandums of understanding for folks who are doing different types of work for dgs for folks who are doing different types of work for the water department so on and so forth based upon the needs of each of those departments and it's it's not necessarily entirely based upon on what the union wants it also has to meet the needs of providing services to our residents right but but in general it it was very glaring to me because what we were hearing from folks is that shift assignments were being used punitively you know so folks would make complaints and all of a sudden they'd get pulled from an overnight shift to an evening shift and then all of a sudden because they didn't have child care they can't come to work and now they're they're facing termination for time and attendance issues that didn't exist prior to that um and I think with some more structural changes to the Union contract that ensures in a situation like that they have to give you a certain amount of notice before they can do that or it has to be done via senority or reverse seniority order um those types of things may go away because now you're talking about a

potential grievance issue um or a potential perb charge for changing the conditions of work without negotiation does I I don't know if that makes sense to everyone but um so issues regarding uh shift work are probably not Universal in every contract that we have no but I'm looking at issues like the the parental leave issue that you highlight which I assume is the universal issue across all contracts and I'm wondering if all contracts that we have collective bargaining contracts treat that issue in the same way as it does in the athne contract I I haven't looked and started digging at a lot of the other Union contracts I know our our sick leave Clauses for the fire department and the police department are vastly different right um and and I think that that is certainly uh a worthwhile task if we can get all of the upto-date bargaining agreements on the floor for us to review them and I'm wondering how in terms of exempt employees uh in terms of our own Personnel policies how how that's treated if you look at the employee handbook it defers back to FMLA so I I think even even our quote unquote non pregnant folks would still be entitled to FMLA but the FMLA leave that they be entitled to is half that half the leave that is guaranteed to pregnant employees thank you Mr Robinson thanks so much and I want to thank you Megan and the um committee for all your hard work and effort going into this and I know it was a short period of time um but I want to thank you for your uh thoroughness um in uh this report and also um with um answering the questions

I just have one questions about how many employees were interviewed or came forward I I'd have to go back to the report because pretty much everyone that we spoke to their testimony is summarized in the report so I I think we've received roughly around 20ish employees and in addition to that um I had about five or six people that contacted me privately that did not want their information made public those allegations are woven into that report but their identities were were kept confidential for the most part and were um there a mix of current employees and former employees in that process yes so there are there were certainly people that were currently working for the city both in the water department and um in the department of General Services predominantly although we did have some folks who Express concerns about the department of recreation um and we also both publicly and privately had former employees contact us um with regards to and in some cases those former employees were not people who were terminated by the city they were people who voluntarily left the city um and we're providing corroborating information saying you know I I watched footage of the meeting you know I I received um you know we had one former supervisor who called to say that they received a promotion that they were not qualified for um and Who provided corroborating information regarding the

bottle service and a lot more detailed information about how um um overtime was being used to essentially pay for people's uh drug alcohol and prostitution abits okay thank you go ahead Mr Johnson thank you one of the things that I was um looking for in there is about um the point that jumped out in me as um people going in the meeting without their Union president and um I thought that that was bothersome you know um they have people signing like if you get in trouble again you lose your job um letters that the union can't support you if they're not there so that was um Troublesome um and and just you know being from aubony um the the the person who um who uh time got switched you know I I happen to work at the school that their kids went to I watched this young lady change her change schools so that you know she can around her job and um just like I think that issue like what the councilman was bringing up it it really doesn't stick out until somebody um starts using it as ammunition to get rid of you and so um I thought that it was uh courageous of of her to come in and um talk about that and just um being a councilman and working for the school district it it gave me privy to information um and so I I just was curious about the um Union piece and I just remember how strongly the union representative from Rochester um spoke

about um the culture of bgs and from the Union's perspective and um I just think that it's an opportunity and it's a space to address some things that that um seem to be happening um all the time and especially at a time when all we hear from departments is that we're we're down and um when you have uh supervisors that are leaving of Free Will um at a time where you know people are are trying to hold on to their jobs it just says that something is is is definitely wrong and um you could just only imagine the calls that I received when when they um heard about the meetings it's a lot of people that wanted to um say something but um were scared because of the retaliation that happened even to the people that came and spoke you know when they went back to work it wasn't a um comfortable atmosphere from them as reported so I'm hoping that you know Justice is done for uh people that were putting um difficult situations and and and this a you know we we could have got um overflowed with u people coming in here and not just from the two dep you know departments that um we were having discussion I think what you're going to find out is um people are waiting to see what happens here if they want to come through and say um um you know talk about their experiences because you know um one of the gentlemen you know spoke about um parks and r and and um and again I was working in parks and wck when a lot of that stuff was um going on I've watched that man work you know several different um positions it's another young lady that reached out to

me and another person about um working um in different titles and um only to find out that she wasn't going to get paid and so I I have a um a sore heart a sore spot in my heart for stuff like that because because it's a lot of people um trying to work their way to the top they're trying to work their way to Opportunities and it just seems like there's a lot of situations where people are being exploited you know um under these work uh opportunities so I I I would say in response that if if we were to go in the direction of reviewing discipline I think the concerns that you have over um the return to work let would be part of what that particular part of the RFP would look at um and for for folks who were not part of this process one of one of the things that is allowable under the askme contract is that if if the city is imposing more serious discipline they can put that person out of work for up to 30 days so they they the city and the union essentially have 30 days to play out the disciplinary grievance and during that time that person can be taken off payroll and so for a number and and it is allowable that's that's how the contract is structured um again I've seen better Protections in contracts um for example the union that I work for there is a if you place somebody on suspension without pay and there's not corresponding dis uh criminal charges related to that suspension they have the right for an to go through an expedited suspension review So within 5 days you file and an arbitrator May return that person back

to work they may still be out of work for a few weeks that's a lot different than what um our Workforce is potentially facing and you have to remember that our Workforce I mean within AWD and and dgs these are some of our lowest paid workers in the city um and so what oftentimes was coming up in those meetings was that people were facing a potential 30-day suspension without pay they couldn't afford it and the city was offering them a settlement um to come back to work that basically said if they did whatever Behavior they were accused of and this is before they've had their due process completely played out before the city's proven its charges the city accused them of engaging that behavior again over the course of 12 months or 18 months they would be terminated and there's no way getting out of that um and that was often done without the union um what I will say is that the way the plug hollar worker Union is structured they rely very heavily on local leadership to do representation um and so that's not to say that that their Union staffer isn't directly involved in in the disciplinary grievance process but one of the I think problem areas is that they're not guaranteed to actually have professional staff present with them when making those decisions and again some contracts will you know require representation with a big r as as opposed to a little r um so that profess staff are there to advise and ensure people understand what

they're doing and what they're signing on to um any other questions concerns suggestions feedback I just got one more question so the RFP process um so we're looking to after we finish um looking over the requested documentation um to define the scope uh what What's the timeline I mean I ideally would like to see that RFP I mean because we allocated the funds for fiscal year 2025 so if we don't have those funds allocated and a contract signed by the end of the year we would essentially have to negotiate for that 75,000 to be put in the budget for 2026 and it would in that 75,000 that we secured would essentially if it wasn't spent down somewhere else would go into the general fund so ideally those funds would be allocated before the end of this this fiscal year um we don't have enough information to really do an RFP because an RFP is typically pretty detailed and if we don't know exactly what we want them to look at which is why we kind of want to go through documents first so that we have a better grasp on uh the scope of the work that we want them to do and then you know those funds are allocated to um the department of audit and control so there's going to have to be some negotiation between the auditor's office and the Council on that RFP but we're you know essentially doing a mini audit before doing a big audit if that makes any sense

anything further okay thank you thank you motion to adjourn Kelly motion to adjourn no I can't make I'm not making