City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: April 11, 2023
Agenda Item: 5.J
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Lori Gentles, Chief People Officer, Human Resources Department Subject: Adoption of a Resolution Accepting the Tentative Agreement and Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Memoranda of Understanding with the City and the Fire Executive Management Association
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15324 (Class 24 Regulations of Working Conditions) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines;
2. Adopt the proposed Resolution (Attachment A) accepting the Tentative Agreement (TA) and authorizing the City Manager to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Fire Executive Management Association;
3. Adopt the salary schedule (Attachment B); and
4. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions section of this report.
Summary
In accordance with the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), negotiations between the City and the Fire Executive Management Association (FEMA) have resulted in a Tentative Agreement (TA) regarding a successor Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Staff seeks Council authorization to enter into this agreement with this bargaining unit. FEMA has authorized and approved the terms of the TA. City staff recommend that Council approve the TA to establish a successor agreement between the City and FEMA.
Discussion
The MOU between the City and FEMA establishes wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) in California, 2 of 3
local public agencies negotiate with exclusively recognized employee organizations on wages, hours, and working conditions.
The overall policy of the City has been to maintain competitive benefits and working conditions in a high-cost geographic labor market to attract and retain a high-quality workforce to serve our community across a wide range of specialized services. Since most, though not all, City jobs are comparable to those in other competing municipal organizations, the City has traditionally looked to full-service cities in our region of similar size and financial strength for labor market comparisons.
The terms of this tentative agreement continue to keep us in alignment with our 11 comparable peer cities while simultaneously preserving a level of benefits that will keep the City of Santa Monica competitive in a tight labor market. Peer cities include Anaheim, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Culver City, El Segundo, Glendale, Inglewood, Pasadena, Redondo Beach, Santa Barbara, and Torrance. The City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles may also be included as a comparable agency depending on the classifications being surveyed.
The substantive changes for the TA with FEMA are outlined below:
Fire Executive Management Association
• Term of Agreement: July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025 • July 3, 2022 = 4.5% salary increase plus a one-time payment of $6,000 in recognition of the salary decreases during fiscal years 2020-2022. • July 1, 2023 = 3% salary increase
• July 1, 2024 = 2% salary increase
• 1.5% Specialty Deployment Pay
• Effective the first full pay period after Council adoption, decrease FEMA CalPERS pension cost-sharing from 6% to 1%.
• Portal to Portal language changes
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• Addition of 401(a) plan, transferring City contribution from current 457(b) plan to new 401(a) plan
Environmental Review
The negotiated changes to staff wages are categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15324 (Class 24 Regulations of Working Conditions) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. Class 24 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies to regulate employee wages, hours of work, or working conditions where there will be no demonstrable physical changes outside the place of work.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The total cost of the negotiated changes contained in the tentative agreement presented in this report is $90,635 for FY 2022-23. The budget impact of these changes is included in the FY 2022-23 Midyear Budget proposed changes being presented to the Council tonight in a separate report.
Prepared By: Sasha Sargent, Executive Administrative Assistant Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Attachment A - FEMA TA RESO 4.11.23
B. Attachment B- Salary Schedule 3_27_2023
C. ADD TO_Revised Attachment to 5.J.b