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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/09/91TAPE #882 UNAPPROVED DRAFT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 9, 1991 #0019 #0046 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Bremerton was called to order in the City Council Chambers, 239 4TH Street, Bremerton, Washington, Wednesday, January 9, 1991, at 5:30 p.m., with Council President Lynn Horton presiding. Council members present: Lon Overson, Wayne Estes, Spencer Horning, C. R. "Tiny" Collins, Morrie Dawkins, A1 Colvin, Russ Johnson and Hank Waibel. Also present were City Attorney Ian Sievers and City Clerk Kathleen McCluskey. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council President Horton and Invocation given by Councilman Al Colvin. President Horton announced two Executive Sessions were scheduled immediately following the City Council meeting to discuss "real estate" and "contract negotiations" issues. CON8ENT AGENDA - A. Minutes Of Meeting - December 26, 1990, #AB91-008 Mr. Waibel noted a correction to the Minutes - p17- final motion the last line should read "Pinewood Manor and/or the church". M/S/C/U(Waibel/Estes) to approve Consent Agenda as corrected. CLAIMS/CHECK REGISTERS Vouchers audited and certified by the auditing officer as required by RCW 42.24,080, and those expense reimbursement claims certified as required by RCW 42.24.090, have been recorded on a listing that has been made available to the council. M/S/C/U(Colvin/Dawkins) on January 9, 1991, the Council does approve for payment those vouchers included and further described as follows: Regular Payroll ending December 31, 1990, in the total amount of $385,723.95. COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS Mr. Johnson announced the resignation of Jim McDonald from the Bremerton Solid Waste Advisory Committee and extended a "thank you" to Jim for his excellent service on that committee. He received a letter from Representative Peggy Johnson, who attended Bremerton's legislative meeting, indicating she had already started working with the State Ferry System administrators about the possibility of office relocation to Bremerton. She was also working on the Resolution to officially designate the City of Bremerton as the Washington State Veterans Memorial site. Mr. Johnson announced the Arts & Entertainment Channel sponsor a "City Video" contest TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 2 of 10 annually and Bremerton had been working on such a project this past year. The video subject is developed around positive changes within cities. This project was being developed by volunteers and at this time there is no one working to continue this project. He put out a plea for help to local video filming artists in the Bremerton area, who would be interested in completing this project. If someone would like to volunteer their services, they can call the City Council Office - 478-5280. Mr. Colvin stated he was glad to be back after spending the holidays in California and wished everyone a "Happy New Year". He also expressed his appreciation to the members of the Cable Access crew for their service this past year. Mr. Dawkins reported he had a wonderful time in California over the holidays and was pleased the Washington Huskies won the Rose Bowl game. He reported California is and has been experiencing a water shortage and are even looking into utilizing reclaimed water from sewer plants to water lawns, for vehicles, etc. Mr. Collins stated he implores the creator of each of us has guidance for our National leaders, the United Nations and the people who are in charge of countries in the Near East. He recalls the things that led up to World War II, which gives him great concern. Mr. Overson related an incident where a Bremerton resident went to the Rose Bowl game, leaving his house unattended, and his neighbor, a Bremerton fireman kept a fire burning in that house during the recent storm to keep from having any damage. Mr. Overson noted this was definitely above and beyond the call of service. Mr. Estes reported on Tuesday he accompanied a group of veterans to Fort Lewis where they received an update on the National Cemetery site selection. Currently, four sites for the veterans cemetery were under consideration: Illahee, Sulton, Tahoma and area near SeaTac Airport. The only vocal people there were those form King County, who were supporting the SeaTac Airport location. It was anticipated that a decision would be made some time in November. Following that meeting, the group was given a tour, by the Rangers, that included demonstrations and a tour of the new Madigan Hospital. He expounded on the quality of individuals in the Ranger group. Mr. Horning attended the Kitsap Executive Planning Council this date and heard a report from the Department of Emergency Management on damage caused by recent storms. He announced if anyone had damage resulting from storms between November 9 and December 20, TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 3 of 10 they could still report it by calling 1-800-462-9029. That damage information should also be reported to the local Emergency Management Office, so there may be some justification to extend the time to the third storm, which hit December 26 -28. He noted local governmental bodies, who experienced damage as a result of these storms, would be getting some financial assistance to potentially 87 1/2% of attributable direct additional hard dollar costs. The Federal Government, through FEMA, would be putting up 75% of those funds, the State 12 1/2% and local government 12 1/2% During the Bremerton/Kitsap County Board of Health meeting, action was taken to strongly support the Act On Tobacco be taken before the Legislature this year. From the Department Of Health, they unanimously supported stronger regulations on the sale, distribution, promotion of tobacco products for children under 18 years old. Mr. Horning was under the impression that was regulated now, however, children under 18 are very active in use of smokeless tobacco, etc. It was suggested to have a State-wide public awareness campaign informing families of the negative health issues concerning the use of tobacco products and community prevention, education and cessation programs to help reduce use of tobacco and addiction. Even though it was not vogue any longer to smoke, it was still a giant, addictive problem to the youth and as a public elected official we encourage you to not to start smoking or use smokeless tobacco. Lastly, discussions were underway with the County on annexation guidelines as they tackle the issue of growth management. Mrs. Horton reported she also attended the Kitsap Executive Planning Council. During the Health Department presentation it was reported that smoking was on an increase for adolescent girls and young women and that the incidents of lung cancer, among women, was on the increase. During 1990, lung cancer had taken over as the No. 1 killer of women. Mrs. Horton strongly supported efforts to stem young people from beginning to smoke in the first place. The report on Emergency Management already had collected reports of over 5 million dollars of damage in Kitsap County. In regard to tackling annexation policies in the County, a comment she made during the meeting was that she wanted to make sure after arriving at an Annexation Policy, that the Boundary Review Board would not be invoked. It was her hope that clear guidelines for annexation be developed so both the cities and the County would know exactly where everyone stood on such policies. Lastly, she reported they would be interviewing later this month for the Administrator for the new Planning Council. Mr. Johnson questioned if the Executive Planning Council took action removing Kitsap County from the Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency (PSAPCA) jurisdiction? Mrs. Hotton stated this area would be getting an additional monitoring station and any TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 4 of 9 future action by the Planning Council would depend on what happened once that was in place. Mr. Homing noted the PSAPCA was very aware of how the governmental entities of Kitsap County feel about being governed by that agency. And, Mr. Horning noted the cost of the new monitoring equipment was $60,000. Mrs. Horton stated she would be attending a PSAPCA meeting on January 10, and would give a report on that meeting next week. PUBLIC RECOGNITION Teresa Dimbicer, Bremerton resident, questioned why City streets were not cleaned more often. In particular she was concerned with broken glass on streets and shopping mall areas. She related a recent incident where she was the victim of an attempted assault and expressed concern over the lack of Police Patrol Officers responding to calls of need. She also brought to the Council's attention information regarding prescription drugs prescribed by a local psychological Counselor, that had a detrimental affect on the person who received the prescription. She was seeking assistance to help protect others from experiencing similar problems. President Horton suggested Ms. Dimbicer contact the Mayor's office providing them with specific locations where streets needed to be cleaned and requested the City Attorney to assist her regarding the prescription information. Vicki Vanneman, Director of Parks & Recreation, reported on the results of hosting a national athletic event at Forest Ridge Park on Saturday. She introduced Mary Vaughn, organizer of the National Cycle Cross Championship event for Bremerton. Marv Vau~hn thanked the City for being so supportive for this event. They worked closely with the Parks Department getting the course ready after the damage left in the wake of recent storms. She thanked Police Officer Tom Pratt on traffic control, Kitsap Fire District for rescue, City Clerk's office for permits and Bremerton/Kitsap County Visitor and Convention Bureau. She introduced David Brumuckle, her business partner and co-promotor of the event. Mr. Brumuckle briefly reported on the restoration efforts by 10 people who spent 6 hours getting the park area back to its original condition. Ms. Vanneman commended David and Mary for leaving the park in marvelous shape. She felt that an event of this nature was a positive activity for the park and urged everyone who did not witness this event to do so next time the opportunity presents itself. 6A - ORDINANCE (FIRST READING) ADOPTING THE MANAGEMENT AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF COMPENSATION PROGRAM (BENEFITS SECTIONS) 1. 2.50.040. WORK SCHEDULES AND LEAVE BENEFITS (a) Work Schedules. Describes the minimum work schedule which applies for management and professional salaried employees who are "Non-covered" or "Exempt" from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employees who are not covered or exempt from the TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 5 of i0 Act's provisions have a minimum work week established and no compensation is required for hours worked in excess of the minimum hours per week. (Other City employees who are covered by the Act's provisions have a maximum work week established and hours worked beyond the maximum are to be paid at overtime rate.) (b) Holiday Time. Continues existing holiday benefits. Managers and professional staff do not receive a floating holiday, as do other City employees. (c) Vacation Leave Time. Decreases vacation days from 20 days to 15 days for new hires; increases vacation days for persons employed for more than five years from 20 days to 25 days per year. Provides the Mayor with the ability to grant 20 days to new hires or 25 days to employees promoted from within the City when appropriate. Changes are designed to provide more flexibility in avoiding substantially decreasing vacation benefits to persons newly hired or to persons promoted from the existing work force. (d) Sick Leave Accrual. Changes sick leave from a flat 200 hours per person on January 1 to an accrual of 12 days per year to a maximum of 125 days with no payment for unused sick leave. Continues banked sick leave placed in reserve in January 1985 and changes current provisions for obtaining approval for sick leave use to reflect current law and reporting relationships. 2.50,050 DEFERRED COMPENSATION/INSURANCE OPTIONS. Continues existing programs and eliminates references to options and plans which have never been implemented. 2.50,060 RETIREMENT BENEFITS Continues existing benefit arrangements. 2.50.070 MEDICAL AND DENTAL INSURANCE BENEFITS Ties medical plans and premium payments to those provided to other employees through collective bargaining agreements. Discontinues a manager's ability to forego enrollment in the City's dental insurance program to bring practice into line with contractual requirements with the dental carrier. 2.50,080 WORKER'S COMPENSATION No change to existing benefits. States legal requirements and provides for supplementing worker's compensation time-loss benefits with use of sick leave--same as all other City employees. 2.50,090 SEVERANCE PAY Changes existing benefits and standardizes severance without cause pay based on years of employment. Currently, of 35 managers, 11 have no severance pay benefit; 4 have 30 days notice and 2 months TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 6 of 10 severance pay; 20 have 30 days notice and 1 month severance pay. This provision increases severance pay during the first two years of employment to 30 days notice and 2 months pay; after two years and through five years - 30 days notice and 2.5 months pay; after five years - 30 days notice and 3 months pay. Termination for cause is without severance pay. Mayor Louis Mentor referenced Council's 1990 Statement Of Legislative Intent #44, that requested a new Management Compensation Plan, with accompanying ordinance. The ordinance being presented at this time addressed "benefits" only. This proposal had input from all managers in the City. He felt the City was fortunate to have the quality of managers currently serving the City and that it was very important to attract and retain good managers. He expected managers to act professional, be loyal to the City and treat the City with respect on the job and in turn the Managers were to be treated as professionals, respected and provide a commensurate benefit package. Managers contracts, as a whole, needed to be standardized in order to be fair to those manager who had served five years or more. Currently, when new managers are hired, they are given extra benefits to compete with other jurisdictions. Unfortunately, those mangers who already work for the City do not get those same benefits. Mayor Mentor review each of the specific areas of change: vacation leave time, sick leave accrual, medical/dental insurance and severance pay. And, he emphasized that the changes would not be a great cost to the City but would provide good benefit coverage and security for City managers. Public comment - none. Mr. Estes questioned the Mayor if someone was laid off for just cause but they did not agree with the Mayor's position will they sue the City? Mayor Mentor stated there was no guarantee as anyone had the privilege to sue anyone for anything. Mr. Overson requested an explanation how this ordinance would be implemented and would it be assumed, on the date of effectiveness, that it would be treated as though it had been in effect since time beginning? Mayor Mentor explained that anyone who qualified for 25 days vacation will receive 25 days. For someone who currently gets 20 days leave, excluding new hires from the time effectiveness, would get 25 days vacation. Mr. Overson stated for clarification that managers who had been with the City for less than five years would get the extended leave, thereby having only partial implementation of the plan. Mayor Mentor explained that someone who was just recently hired and given 20 days would retain the 20 days. TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 7 of 10 President Hotton questioned since this proposal was in ordinance form, would there need to be a separate motion excluding new hires? Ian Sievers, City Attorney, stated it was consistent to keeping new hires at 20 days with the new ordinance, since it allowed the Mayor to approve 20 days vacation time for new hires. If it was desired by Council to remove that retroactively, that would require ordinance change since the current ordinance allowed for 20 days leave for new hires. Mr. Overson questioned on the day this ordinance became effective, which was senior the managers' contracts or the ordinance? Mr. Sievers stated the contracts right now refer to the ordinance so amendments to the ordinance were automatically adopted by reference in the contract. In reference to severance pay, the contracts had been specific as to the amount to be granted in the event of severance of employment because that had not been addressed in the Management Benefits Ordinance. Therefore, the ordinance would grant severance pay to all employees who do not have contracts. It would also control as an applied contractual change in the contract, through this ordinance, to people who were given less severance leave than that given in the ordinance. He did not believe it would be necessary to rewrite the current contracts. Mr. Johnson noted he did not believe it was appropriate to include the City Auditor and City Attorney on the list of managers. Under the Severance Pay section, it referenced a manager may be terminated by "notice from the Mayor", and the City Attorney and City Auditor could not be terminated by the Mayor. Mr. Sievers stated that currently his contract and the City auditor's contract included severance pay if terminated without cause. Mr. Johnson questioned how much vacation time was given to the Municipal Court Judge? Mr. Sievers stated the Judge did not have a benefit package. He would look up the Judge's ordinance to see if reference was made to vacation leave for full time service. Mr. Johnson noted the Civil Service Director, Fire Chief and Police Chief were under some provision under the R.C.W.'s and that some of those provisions may have been waived. Mr. Sievers stated he would report back on that issue. Mr. Johnson expressed some concern over eliminating the "contract" method as it would provide some flexibility for the Mayor when recruiting. Mayor Mentor stated those managers who did not have contracts needed to have fair and equitable benefits. Mr. Johnson requested that a list of the managers to be covered under the ordinance be listed in the ordinance by second reading. Mr. Sievers suggested just removing the wording "of said notice from the Mayor". Mr. Johnson stated specifically that he wanted the names of the positions covered under the ordinance to be included in the ordinance. Mr. 8ievers noted it was intended to place that information at the beginning of the Chapter and the first sections had not been adopted at this #2404 TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 8 of 10 time. Mr. Johnson stated he specifically wanted the positions clearly defined in the ordinance itself. President Hotton questioned if new department head positions were created it would necessitate an amendment to this ordinance? Mr. Sievers stated yes. Mr. Colvin stated he would like to see the names of employees who were not covered under the ordinance be listed in the ordinance, such as Municipal Judge, City Attorney, etc. And, he felt the item under Vacation Leave that states "Decrease vacations days from 20 days to 15 days for new hires" was in conflict with a further statement "Provides the Mayor with the ability to grant 20 days to new hires...". Mr. Johnson pointed out that the second statement gave the Mayor some flexibility when recruiting. He did express concern that an outgoing Mayor might grant additional leave to some loyal managers as a nice gesture. He did not believe this was appropriate use of that flexibility. Mayor Mentor explained the Mayor's flexibility was at the time of hire only. Mr. Johnson expressed concern as to what "newly hired" really meant. Mr. Overson questioned if the Mayor had the same type of flexibility with granting sick leave as he did with granting vacation leave? Carollne Marshall, Personnel Director, stated currently managers were granted 200 hours on January 1 of each year. Those who did not use their 200 hours during 1990, then had the sick leave hours converted into days, then one day per month would be accrued to a maximum of 125 days. Mr. Overson noted for clarification that the implementation of this portion was back dated to begin January 1. Mr. Colvin questioned if the sick leave was not used would they be compensated for such leave if they terminated? Mayor Mentor stated no. Councilman Collins stepped out of the Council Chambers at 6:38 PM. M/S/C(Johnson/Colvin) to approve Ordinance, on first reading, repealing Chapter 2.50 of the Bremerton Municipal Code and adopting a new Chapter providing a Management and Professional Staff Compensation Program, with the following exceptions to be corrected on second reading that the City Attorney and Personnel Manger add language to address special circumstances of the City Attorney, Internal Auditor, Chief Of Police, Fire Chief, Civil Service Officer and Municipal Judge; and to also insert more restrictive language on the new hire vacation flexibility of the Mayor. Vote: In Favor: Abstain: Overson, Estes, Horning, Horton, Dawkins, Colvin, Johnson Waibel Councilman Collins returned to the meeting at 6:43 PM. TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 9 of 10 #2503 #2546 #3033 6B -ORDINANCE #4303 (SECOND READING) #AB91-003 Public comment - none. FOR MT. ZION ANNEXATION, M/S/C/U(Dawkins/Estes) to pass Ordinance #4303, on second reading, annexing approximately 2.4 acres known as the Mount Zion Baptist Annexation in the vicinity of Sylvan Way and Pine Road into the City of Bremerton and zoning said property. 6C - ORDINANCE #4304 (SECOND READING) AMENDING THE ZONING MAP FOR THE SYLVAN WAY SENIOR HOUSING PUD, MT. ZION CHURCH SITE AND PINEWOODMANOR, #AB91-004 Public comment - none. M/S/C/U(Dawkins/Colvin) to pass Ordinance #4304, on second reading, amending the Official Zoning Map of the City of Bremerton for the Sylvan Way Housing PUD and Mt. Zion Baptist Church site. 6D - RESOLUTION #2334, 1991 CITY COUNCIL STATEMENTS OF LEGISLATIVE INTENT (SLI), #AB91-010 The attached Resolution, prepared by the City Council, expresses the direction and intent of the Council pursuant to concerns related to adoption of the 1991 Budget. Public comment - none Mr. Colvin questioned if citizens were entitled to look at copies of the adopted SLI's? Mr. Overson stated they were available to view at the Regional Library. Mr. Johnson briefly outlined how SLI's were identified during the annual budget review process. They also acted as planning tools for future projects and provide support for specific programs and projects, such as drug enforcement programs, etc. Mr. Overson pointed out the SLI's added detail to the budget. Mr. Collins suggested having copies of the SLI, along with the scheduling plan, available to the public at the front counter of City Hall. Mr. Johnson noted the information could also be added to the Council's Bulletin Board System. Mr. Waibel added after the SLI's were adopted they would be included as part of the budget book, which was available for public viewing. M/S/C/U(Overson/Collins) to pass Resolution #2334, adopting the Bremerton City Council's Statements Of Legislative Intent for the 1991 Budget. TAPE #882 City Council Reg. Mtg. Minutes January 9, 1991 Page 10 of 10 With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM. APPROVED LY~~HORTON, Council President City of Bremerton KLM/LH/me cc: Normal Distribution File/Vault KATHLEEN McCLUSKEY, CITY CLERK