Agenda Item B.6
CPMS CONSENT CALENDAR
Meeting Date: November 15, 2022
____________________________________________________________
TO: Mayor and Councilmembers
FROM: Kristine Schmidt, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Public Works Standby Pay
RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt Resolution No. 22 -__ entitled, “ A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Goleta, California, Authorizing the City Manager to Amend the Memoranda of Understanding With SEIU, Local 620, and the City’s Personnel Rules to Increase Standby Pay Effective November 19, 2022.”
BACKGROUND:
Under the Memorandum of Understanding with SEIU, Local 620, the City may assign employees to Standby Duty, defined as time outside of an employee's scheduled work shift when the employee must remain prepared to respond to emergencies or other unplanned events at the worksite which require prompt attention . The right to assign Standby Duty is subject to the duty to pay standby pay as outlined in the Memoranda of Understanding, under Article 20.8.
While on Standby Duty, employees must carry an electronic pager, cellular phone, or other communication device so that they may be alerted to the need to respond to an emergency or urgent situation. While performing Standby Duty, employees must remain within a thirty (30) minute response time of the workplace and must have access to transportation at all times. Employees must not consume, be impaired by or have in their biological system alcohol or drugs while performing Standby Duty. In other words, restrictions are placed on an employee’s use of free time.
Currently, the Public Works Department does not have a maintenance worker regularly on standby duty on nights and weekends. It is used almost exclusively for anticipated major weather events. Instead, if there is an issue on a weeknight or weekend, a call goes directly to a supervisor who mu st then work down a contact list to find a maintenance employee who happens to be reachable and available for call out (i.e., qualified, located within a reasonable response time , and unimpaired), or in some cases a manager or supervisor ends up responding in person. Call outs on nights and weekends are not infrequent. This is inefficient and does not provide predictability for either supervisors or employees.
1 Meeting Date: November 15, 2022
DISCUSSION:
The Public Works Department will be implementing a Standby Duty shift to respond to afterhours maintenance issues that may arise citywide in public rights of ways, City parks, City facilities, etc. An employee will always be on standby on weeknights, on weekends, and on holidays.
The Memorandum of Understanding states, “ Employees participating in Standby Duty shall be compensated at a rate equivalent to one (1) hour of regular pay at the top step of their pay range in the City of Goleta Salary Schedule for each twenty-four (24) hour period that they spend on said duty”. Human Resources staff have found that this rate of standby pay is signif icantly lower than the rate offered by other local jurisdictions and unlikely to incentivize staff to feel adequately compensated for the limitations on their free time required by Standby Duty.
Staff propose to change this to, “…one (1) hour of regular pay at the top step of their pay range in the City of Goleta Salary Schedule for each eight (8) hour period that they spend on said duty.” This is more in line with the median of what other agencies offer. In most cases, this will result in 2 hours of pay for standby on an overnight shift during the work week, and 3 hours of pay per 24 hours on a weekend day or holiday, when there is not a regular maintenance work shift. While the City is not required to increase pay in the middle of a labor agreement, staff believe that it is advisable in this case to ensure the success of the program. The Union agrees with this assessment and is supportive of a change.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
Staff estimated total cost of $25,400 for implementing the standby program, including the increase in standby pay, in developing the current FY 2022-23 Public Works Maintenance personnel budget, so additional appropriations are not necessary.
ALTERNATIVES:
Council could decline to approve the change, in which case staff will evaluate whether the potentially negative impacts on morale of implementing a regular standby schedule at current rates justify the program.
Reviewed By: Legal Review By: Approved By:
___________________ ___________________ _________________ Kristine Schmidt Megan Garibaldi Robert Nisbet
Assistant City Manager City Attorney City Manager
2 Meeting Date: November 15, 2022
ATTACHMENTS:
1. A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Goleta, California, Authorizing the City Manager to Amend the Memoranda of Understanding With SEIU, Local 620, and the City’s Personnel Rules to Increase Standby Pay Effective November 19, 2022
3 ATTACHMENT 1
A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Goleta, California, Authorizing the City Manager to Amend the Memoranda of Understanding With S EIU, Local 620, and the City’s Personnel Rules to Increase Standby Pay Effective November 19, 2022
4 RESOLUTION NO. 22-XX
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
GOLETA, CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO AMEND THE MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING WITH
SEIU, LOCAL 620 , AND THE CITY ’S PERSONNEL RULES TO
INCREASE STANDBY PAY EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 19, 2022.
WHEREAS, on December 7, 2021 , the City Council approved and authorized the City Manager to execute Amended and Restated Agreements No. 18-037 and 180-038, the Memorand a of Understanding with SEIU, Local 620 Regarding the Goleta General Employees Bargaining Unit and Miscellaneous Bargaining Unit , which are valid through the ex piration of their terms on December 31, 2023; and
WHEREAS, on July 19, 2022, the City Council approved Resolution 22-40 authorizing the City Manager to amend the Memoranda of Understanding with SEIU, Local 620, to include certain retention incentives; and
WHEREAS, on March 3, 2015, the City Council adopted the City of Goleta Personnel Rules via Resolution 15 -09, which were subsequently amended via Resolution No. 15-36, Resolution No 20-57, Resolution 20-71, Resolution 21-53, and Resolution 22-40; and
WHEREAS, the City Council wishes to change the terms and conditions of employment for both represented and unrepresented employees to increase pay to employees who are designated to serve on standby duty,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNC IL OF
THE CITY OF GOLETA, AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1 . The City Manager is authorized to agree to amend the existing Memoranda o f Understanding with the General and Miscellaneous bargaining unit s as necessary , su bject to agreement with those employee organizations as follows. Memorandum of Understanding Article 20.8 (Standby and Call Back), Section 20.8(A)(3), is replaced in its entirety with the following:
“3. Employees partic ipating in Standby Duty sha ll be compensated at a rate equivalent to one (1) hour of regular pay at the top step of th eir pay range in the City of Goleta Salary Schedule for each eight (8) hour period that they spend on said duty.”
5 Resolution 22-0X
Retention Incentives
SECTION 2. The City Manager is authorized to amend Section 8.7(A)(3) of the Personnel Rules , to provide the same Standby Pay to unrepresented employees.
SECTION 3
The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this resolution and enter it into the book of original resolutions.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this __ day of _____ 2022.
__________________________
PAULA PEROTTE
MAYOR
ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________ __________________________
DEBORAH S. LOPEZ MEGAN GARIBALDI
CITY CLERK CITY ATTORNEY
6 Resolution 22-0X
Retention Incentives
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA ) ss.
CITY OF GOLETA )
I, DEBORAH S. LOPEZ, City Clerk of the City of Goleta , California, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the forego ing Resolution No. 22-__ was duly adopted by the City Council of the City of Goleta at a regular meeting held on the ___ day of ______, 2022 by the following vote of the Council:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
(SEAL)
_________________________
DEBORAH S. LOPEZ
CITY CLERK
7