Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: MAY 3, 2022
TO: CITY COUNCIL / CITY MANAGER
SUBMITTED BY: JEFFREY W. COLLIER, ACTING CITY MANAGER
PREPARED BY: EDDIE MANFRO, DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES
SUBJECT: FIRE CHIEF EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
SUMMARY
Proposed employment agreement with Adam Loeser to serve as City of Fullerton Fire Chief for City Council consideration and authorization.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize Acting City Manager to execute proposed employment agreement between City of Fullerton and Adam Loeser, in a form approved by the City Attorney.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statements:
Fiscal and Organizational Stability
Public Safety.
FISCAL IMPACT
The annualized cost of the employment agreement for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22 totals approximately $445,700 and approximately $452,800 for FY 2022-23. As the Shared Command Agreement with the City of Brea will not terminate until June 30, 2022, Fullerton as Brea will share the cost of the Fire Chief (50/50) until then, resulting in a FY 2021-22 impact of approximately $25,700. The Fire Department budget has funds available to absorb the cost for the remainder of this fiscal year and the FY 2022-23 budget has funding included.
DISCUSSION
The City of Fullerton employed Adam Loeser (Loeser) from March 4, 2002 through December 28, 2018. His tenure with Fullerton Fire Department included more than five years as a Chief Officer. In 2014, during Loeser’s employment with Fullerton, the City entered into a Shared Command Agreement with the City of Brea. At that time, former Fullerton Fire Chief Knabe became the Fire Chief overseeing both agencies. Upon Chief Knabe’s retirement in December 2018, Loeser promoted to Fire Chief, and he accepted employment with the City of Brea, resigning from the City of Fullerton on December 28, 2018.
The Cities of Fullerton and Brea have agreed to terminate the Shared Command Agreement effective June 30, 2022. With the dissolution of the shared command, Fullerton will have a Fire Chief vacancy and desires to retain the services of Loeser to fill this role and serve at the direction of the City Manager at an annual salary of $214,774. As certain recommended terms and conditions of the Employment Agreement fall outside the parameters of the current Executive Compensation Resolution, which specify the terms and conditions of employment within the City Manager’s authority, staff requests City Council approve the agreement and authorize the City Manager to execute the proposed Employment Agreement between the City of Fullerton and Adam Loeser.
Key provisions in the agreement not within the City Manager’s scope of authority include the following:
Seniority: In recognition of Loeser’s previous years of service with the City of Fullerton, the City will base his seniority on his original City of Fullerton hire date of March 4, 2002 and treated him as continuously employed since this date. This will have no bearing on retirement benefits for CalPERS as he will receive retirement benefits in accordance with the respective contracts between the Cities of Fullerton and Brea and CalPERS, in accordance with CalPERS statutes and regulations.
Vacation Accrual: Upon his appointment as Fire Chief, Loeser will received an initial bank of 150 hours equal to 50% of the vacation hours on record with the City of Brea. As the two agencies equally share the Fire Chief’s salary and benefits in accordance with the Shared Command Agreement, Fullerton will have no additional cost because Loeser will only cash out 50% of his Brea vacation balance of approximately 300 hours with the remaining 150 hours carried over to Fullerton. The carryover of the 150 vacation hours is in lieu of paying for Loeser’s vacation cash out with Brea. Additionally, Loeser will accrue vacation time at the rate of a 20-year employee equal to 168 hours per year.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – Employment Agreement
Fire Chief Employment Agreement
May 3, 2022 - Page 2