City Council - Regular Meeting

Um, we are ranked fourth from the rank of firefighter to captain. So we have nine cities. If you look at nine cities, the midway point halfway is the fifth rank. Meaning four cities above the fifth rank are higher and four cities below the fifth rank are lower. So fifth is the actual true average. Right? So, going back to my maximum statement, when we're looking at our adjusted maximums from firefighter rank to captain, we are fourth. So, that means we are slightly above the average. And then we'll walk through and I'll mention or point out the uh adjusted minimums as we move forward. So, let's uh finish up here with the firefighter rank. Um you see El Paso, our adjusted minimum places us in the sixth rank. So, we're slightly below because we're number six. And of course, our adjusted maximum, we're coming in at four, fourth place. Moving forward, the next rank we benchmarked was our fire suppression technician. In El Paser, our entry adjusted minimum rank is number nine and our maximum is number four for lieutenant. I want to speak a little bit about this one. We are currently right in the middle. Four are ahead of us. Four are

behind us. Um, and we're slightly above in the maximum adjusted rate. We're number four. But you will see that three of our comparator cities do not have this rank. And those three cities are the city city of Phoenix, the city of Tucson, and the city of Corpus Christi. They do not have this rank. They immediately go to the captain rank. They function uh without this rank. And as I mentioned, we're right smack dab in the middle at the entry point and slightly higher at the maximum. The captain rank, we are again right in the middle, number five. And for our adjusted minimum, and for our adjusted maximum, we're slightly above average at number four. The battalion chief rank, uh, we're sitting at the adjusted minimum rank of sixth place. And for our adjusted maximum, we're at fifth. For deputy chief, our adjusted minimum rank is fifth, right in the middle. And our adjusted maximum, we're coming in at seventh. And last but not least, our assistant fire chief rank. We're at an adjusted minimum rank of number eight and our adjusted maximum rank of number six.

Good afternoon, Nicole Cody. So, this next portion we look at um the staff by steps. So we of course we've got it also by rank, but we really wanted to show you all the percentage of the uniform employees that are at step 11. So we've got 54% of the staff already at step 11. And that being said, you might say, well, are they all ready for retirement? And they're not. So that represents about 54ish firefighters. But those that are eligible for retirement, we're only showing at about 215. um and pension for tier one and you'll see that in the right hand corner in that table. Um we thought it was really important to show this to you because as you've just heard uh where we compare among those cities, our comparable cities as we listed um and what we look at for each of the ranks and how we're ranking and that we do have the majority of 54% of this of the uniform employees at the max step which is step 11. So our proposal today is to uh propose a cost of living adjustment. As they mentioned in the previous contract, it was 3% for FY 2026. We're recommending that it go to 2% for the next four years, but that we're really looking at the step increases and the minimum salaries based on the information that you just saw. So based on uh how we're comparing to other cities, we want to ensure that we either maintain our place within the rankings or we improve our place within the rankings really for the life of this contract moving forward. And so with that, we're rec uh proposing to increase our entry- level salary for the

firefighter, which would remove both step one and step three. So that means it's increasing our minimum salary. We also do this for the FST, the battalion chief, the deputy chief and assistant chiefs. And then we also eliminate um FS3 and FS7. I believe they can get combined with the with the regular ranks to clean up the pay scales. So in addition to that we would recom we're proposing to increase um and or add a new step for firefighter FST battalion chief deputy chief and assistant chief. In addition to that, uh as part of the incentive proposal, uh we are also proposing the flight medical paramedics assignment pay of 5% while working as a paramedic on this aircraft transport unit or firear. So when we look at this uh proposal, we have it broken down the same way that we broke down the union's proposal between the cola and step changes. um the incentive pay increases along with the benefits. So our proposal for the life of the contract would be an increase of 37.7 million um in comparison to the proposal. And that concludes our presentation for today. We will be providing uh proposed pay scales that will outline the the changes we're proposing for the steps. Okay. And then I think I'll turn it over to you, Chief.

Yes. We'll get those those pay scales set up so we can send them over. We'll get that to you late next week and then we'll look at probably we can discuss it later, but maybe the next meeting date when when do we want to set that up as next week or need a couple weeks on both sides to digest. So, I'll turn it over to you.

Yes, sir. Thank you. And thank you all for that presentation. Uh, jumping right in, uh, if you don't mind, we'll start off with the examinations and promotions for item one under examinations and promotions. Um, that's going to be section one, simply requesting a language change kind of to clean up. uh requesting language change from days to calendar days for the 30 and 60 requirements for vacancies and a little bit of furtherance on that. Historically, there have been some minor issues delineating between the two. So, this will help to clean that up uh across the board. This doesn't change the timing of the uh requirements under CBA article 23, but again will help to clear up some misunderstandings we've seen over the years. Moving on to item number two. This is also going to be examinations and promotions article 23 uh section 3A. Again, language cleanup. Uh no change though to the intent. This will be to the new proposed language will be three points will be added to the score of an applicant taking a promotional exam who holds a locally credentialed paramedic certification. As it currently reads, there's some confusion there or room for confusion there. So again, this is language cleanup to get rid of that confusion. Moving on to item three. Uh this will be section four and this will be language cleanup from what is

current practice. Changing that last sentence in section four from three to four assistant chiefs. Currently we maintain four assistant chiefs. Uh item number four, this will be in section nine. Here we are. Uh again, language cleanup. The problem that we've been seeing, there are multiple recent issues involving the promotional process uh that have been presented to local 51 by the membership. The issues there include validity validity of test questions, lack of process to address poorly written or faulty questions and selection of the reading materials, study materials. The proposal from local 51 is to increase the number of committee members under this section to nine personnel um selected by the fire chief and the union president. This committee will be tasked with all of the items currently listed in the CBA from 2022 to 2026 with the additional duties of researching for thirdparty vendor uh test writing, research for third party testing facility, development of a promotional testing process that involves rank specific testing and develop developing standardized testing procedures and manuals. uh you have this in front of you so I'm not going to read this whole thing but uh then moving on item number five section 13 requesting to add a new paragraph uh this would be the addition of a paragraph that addresses promotions involving specialized assignments in 40-hour positions. Uh the proposal is

a new paragraph which states if the vacancy involves specialized assignments, excuse me, including but not limited to positions within special operations, the training academy or 40-hour division head assignments or positions uh candidates shall be selected in order of certification and seniority provided the candidate meets the minimum qualifications established for the assignment. This is to address directly that what we've seen in recent history is that personnel are being skipped over in order to bring up uh let's call it preferred personnel where uh particular certifications did not come into play. So this holds the line that if you're the next person up then you're the next person to be promoted. And if there are no questions, that's all I have from examinations and promotions.

No, sir.

All right. The next one is pretty easy. Drug and alcohol testing policy. This covers appendices G, H, and I, which we are looking to consolidate. uh in the recent history of these appendices, their usage, what we've seen is for the most part the way that this thing was constructed, there's a lot of cut and paste. These were pulled from different and various organizations. They just don't read clearly and they don't work clearly. So, in going through consolidating, redlinining a lot of stuff, we're able to to basically boil this down to uh workable document that covers everything that is already there, but again, just in one document, it's clear and concise. We're able to accomplish what uh both sides intend with this rewrite. Um, and then Younger, Captain Younger just gave you uh some information there on what that relight rewrite would look like.

Quick question. Is this Have we gone over this with the chief or any of admin yet or is this just first time being proposed? There's been some talks in amongst HR in and amongst fire administration. We just haven't advanced far into it. Gotcha. Because it's the same policy that it was originally drafted when it when it came in years ago. So, yeah. Okay. We'll take a look at it.

Um, moving on with the supplemental information there. Uh, this again is under appendices GH and drug and alcohol policy testing policy. Uh the first uh supplemental form local 51 is requesting if the employee if the employee is determined to not be at fault for an MVA then they should not be required to submit to post accident drug and alcohol testing. So in those cases where that employee I don't know got sideswiped or red light or whatever it was eliminating that requirement and then the next page of that again a same same appendices. The problem that we're seeing is in section 16 um of that drug and alcohol policy, employees receive a 30-day suspension if they test positive during any form of drug and alcohol testing administered by the city. Part of the requirement to return to duty is the completion of a drug and alcohol rehab program. The intent of the policy is to enforce punishment in the form of a 30-day suspension. between the rehab program time requirements, time needed to set up a rehab program, uh return to duty processes, the employee is often um required to use between 30 to 90 days of their own leave to complete the disciplinary process. This affects the employee service time and places additional stressors on the employee and their family. Our proposal is that the employee will only be issued a 30-day suspension if they fail to complete a citymandated approved drug and alcohol rehab program within 180 days from the initial positive test. Those employees are still subject to the

disciplinary matrix and any relapse or second positive drug alcohol test during their career will subject them to actions up to and including termination. Any questions on that one?

Not at this time. I'll go through the policy. Sir, I know in part of the information that I sent you last night, sorry it was like crazy late and I was half asleep. I sent you some information reference overtime extra board. We are not prepared to present that today. So, we're going to hold off that till hold off on that until the next meeting. I'll have that ready to go for you.

Very good. Did you Did we have any questions for anything that they just went over? Nope. And did you have any questions for anything we've gone over? Uh questions being asked. Initially, we were presented with five cities that were going to be our comparative cities. Now, we come back to the table and we're looking at 10 cities. So the question is how did we arrive at these 10 cities versus the five that we were initially looking at? Remind me on the

where was the five referenced? They were presented in the first meeting with uh city manager Mack. You recall that Robert? I have to go back and look. We just we just made comparable cities. We added somes that you had talked about. You specifically mentioned San Antonio, Dallas. And so we wanted to make sure we captured all those. We just took those cities and we're not set on it's just we were looking at comparable locations near our area.

Okay. The other question in regards to that is Tucson has been mentioned multiple times as one of one of those comparative cities, but it's my understanding Tucson hasn't had a new contract in over 5 years. So, I would think that they would be somewhat dated to use as a resource in comparison. We'll take that. Um, and then finally, in the counter proposal that was presented, I noticed there were a number of items that were missing, specifically longevity pay, some other things along those lines. In your proposal, those are off the table.

They're not off the table. I think we could use some more clarity. I like how you put this form together and you're giving us the topic, what what it is you want, what is going to benefit, and how we going to address that. What we going to get out of that? So, I just think taking another look at it. Gotcha. Sounds good. Anything else? Any questions? No, sir. What are you thinking about a next meeting date? Um, I'm You want to You want to take May 1st? Yeah, let's take a couple. That gives us two weeks. Yes, sir. That works. give us time. Anything you need from us the presentation we presented today? No, but I would like to in that next meeting kind of round this out. So, we'll be looking to bring the overtime extra board stuff, of course.

Okay. The um medical benefits information and get that stuff. We saw that request. So, they'll be working on that. That's that's another reason why the two weeks out at least. Yes, sir. Yes. I think that's it. Very good. All right. Thank you all. We'll see you May 1st.