City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: July 29, 2025
Agenda Item: 4.K
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Dana Brown, Human Resources Director, Human Resources Department Subject: Adoption of a Resolution Accepting the Tentative Agreements and Authorizing the City Manager to Execute Memoranda of Understanding with the Municipal Employees Association (MEA), Supervisory Team Associates (STA), and the Administrative Team Associates (ATA)
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 Agreements (TA) and authorizing the City Manager to execute Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with the Municipal Employees Association (MEA), Supervisory Team Associates (STA), and the Administrative Team Associates (ATA);
3. Adopt the salary schedule (Attachment B); and
4. Authorize budget amendment as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions section of this report. (requires 5 votes)
Summary
In February 2025, the City Council instructed the City’s labor negotiators to engage in labor negotiations with its recognized employee bargaining units in accordance with the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) as each unit’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was set to expire on June 30, 2025. Negotiations were conducted in good faith over the past several months between designated City representatives and representatives of each of the bargaining units. Negotiations between the City and ATA, STA, and MEA, have resulted in tentative agreements (TA) regarding successor MOU agreements with each bargaining unit. All groups finalized the ratification voting process 2 of 7
approving the terms of their respective TA.
City staff recommend that the Council approve the ratified TAs to enter into successor MOUs between the City and these bargaining units.
Discussion
Under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) in California, local public agencies negotiate with exclusively recognized employee organizations on wages, hours, and working conditions. The City currently has approved TAs with seven bargaining units and is still in negotiations with four other employee organizations (often referred to as bargaining groups or unions) whose contracts with the City expired on June 30, 2025.
These TAs reflect a collaborative effort to balance fair compensation for employees with the City’s fiscal responsibility and long-term sustainability.
The main substantive terms in each TA are outlined below:
Municipal Employees Association (MEA)
The Municipal Employees Association (MEA) represents 441 non-exempt general employees, including clerical staff, technical staff, and paraprofessionals. • Term of Agreement: July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2030 • Cost of Living Adjustments: 2% effective July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026; 3% effective July 1, 2027, and July 1, 2028; and 3.5% effective July 1, 2029 • Suspension of equity study language for term of agreement with one agreed upon equity adjustment for the Police Records Technician and Lead Police Records Technician classifications in the amount of 5% in year one of the contract.
• One time compensation study for MEA positions that have not been studied in the prior three years as of July 1, 2025; study to be completed by June 30, 2028. • Increase of Overtime Compensation Time cap to 120 hours. • Increase Shift Differential to $2 per hour or to $2.50 per hour depending on shift. • Increase Spanish bilingual skill pay to $150 per month for those who work in emergency situations (based on job classifications).
• Increase Latent Print Examiner Certification bonus to $75 bi-weekly. 3 of 7
• Increase Community Services Officer assigned to the Major Accident Response Team (MART) bonus to $100 bi-weekly.
• Increase Crime Scene Certification bonus to $75 bi-weekly. • Addition of Certified Access Specialist (CASp) bonus to $75 bi-weekly for employees assigned to Building and Safety Plan Review and possess a CASp certification.
• Addition of Biohazard and Safety Pay of $75 bi-weekly for certain MEA classifications
• New classifications added to receive Water Certification bonus • Addition of Education Incentive of 2% base hourly rate for a Bachelors degree effective July 1, 2025, 3% base hourly rate effective July 1, 2027, and 5% base hourly rate effective July 1, 2029; and 1% base hourly rate for Associates degree effective July 2025, and 2% base hourly rate effective July 1, 2027. • Increase Training Pay to $3.50 per hour.
• Increase Tuition Reimbursement to $3,500 per Fiscal Year. • Increase City’s Deferred Compensation match to $100/month effective July 1, 2025; and $125/month effective July 1, 2029
• Increase Uniform Allowance to $35 bi-weekly
• Increase City-provided Term Life Insurance to $100,000 • Addition of one non-cashable Floating Holiday
• Addition of Special Assignment Pay of 5% base hourly rate. • Addition of a one-time Health and Wellness bonus of $1,000 effective July 1, 2025.
• Add Veteran’s Day as paid holiday.
• One-time bonus of $1,000 effective July 1, 2025
• Ability to cash out 25% of Sick Leave upon retirement.
Supervisory Team Associates (STA)
The STA represents 104 non-exempt supervisors in various departments. • Term of Agreement: July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2030 • Cost of Living Adjustments: 2% effective July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026; 3% 4 of 7
effective July 1, 2027; 4% effective July 1, 2028, and July 1, 2029 • Suspension of equity study language for term of agreement • One time compensation study for STA positions that have not been studied in the prior three years as of July 1, 2025; study to be completed by July 1, 2028.
Compaction analysis of STA positions to be completed by July 1, 2029. • Option to cash out accrued compensatory time off at the rate earned on June 30th and December 30th of each year
• Increase Shift Differential to $2.50 per hour or to $2.75 per hour depending on shift.
• Increase Call Back Pay to a 4-hour minimum and increase the bi-weekly amount to $50 for employees outside of the Police or Fire Departments • Increase Deferred Compensation employer contribution to $125 per month • Increase Uniform allowance to $35 biweekly and $400 for shoes per year • Increase the number of personal leave hours an employee may accrue to 100 hours
• Addition of Temporary Hazard Assignment Bonus of $2 per hour when temporarily performing the duties of a subordinate employee who is eligible for and receives hazard pay.
• HoST Assignment Bonus - a Supervisor who is assigned full-time to oversee the City team responsible for homeless clean-up efforts as part of the Homeless Support Team (HoST) shall receive a bi-weekly bonus equal to 7% of their biweekly base salary rate. • New classifications added to receive Water Certification bonus • Add Veteran’s Day as paid holiday.
• One-time bonus of $1,000 effective July 1, 2025
• Ability to cash out 25% of Sick Leave upon retirement.
Administrative Team Associates (ATA)
The ATA represents 314 exempt administrative employees in various departments. • Term of Agreement: July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2030 • Cost of Living Adjustments: 2% effective July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026; 3% 5 of 7
effective July 1, 2027; 4% effective July 1, 2028; and 3.5% effective July 1, 2029 • One time compensation study for ATA positions that have not been studied in the prior three years as of July 1, 2025; study to be completed by June 30, 2028. • Suspension of equity study language for term of the contract • Expand Special Event/Operational Emergency Pay to include assignments approved by Department Director to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) during citywide emergency.
• Addition of Certified Access Specialist (CASp) $23.08 bi-weekly bonus for employees assigned to Building and Safety Plan Review and possess a CASp certification.
• Increase of Portal-to-Portal pay at the Cal OES reimbursable rate of 1.5 times the hourly pay (overtime rate) as detailed in the Cal OES Annual Salary Survey • Increase Deferred Compensation employer contribution to $69.24 biweekly • Additional 3 non-cashable leave days that sunset at the end of 5 years (i.e., the term of the agreement)
• Addition of On-call Pay for all employees placed on call to receive 8% of base hourly rate (excludes Administrators in the Police Department) • Addition of Specialty Deployment pay in the biweekly amount of $415 for Administrators in the Police Department.
• New classifications added to be eligible to receive 20 hours of non-cashable personal leave
• New classifications added to eligible to receive Water Certification bonus • Add Veteran’s Day as paid holiday.
• One-time bonus of $1,000 effective July 1, 2025
• Ability to cash out 25% of Sick Leave upon retirement.
Environmental Review
The changes to staff compensation and benefits 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 6 of 7
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 agreements presented in this report is approximately $5.3 million for FY 2025-26, which includes $4.1 million in the General Fund. The full impact of these changes will be incorporated in the FY 2025-26 through FY 2029-30 Five-Year Financial Forecast for the General Fund. If the changes are approved, staff will appropriate the FY 2025-26 changes in Non-Departmental for the General Fund and all other funds as listed in the table below.
The funds will be transferred to the relevant funds and department accounts along with the FY 2025-26 Midyear Budget.
Fund # Fund Name FY 2025-26 Total
01 General Fund $4,122,798
11 Beach Recreation Fund $49,987
12 Housing Authority Fund $75,917
50 Water Fund $155,246
51 Wastewater Fund $37,417
53 Pier Fund $208,016
54 Resource Recovery & Recycling Fund $92,978
57 Airport Fund $59,802
59 Cemetery Fund $31,114
60 Big Blue Bus Fund $400,705
70 Vehicle Management Fund $30,134
75 Risk Management Administration Fund $57,655
Total all funds $5,321,769
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Prepared By: Doris Mejia, Senior Human Resources Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Resolution_ATASTAMEA
B. Salary Schedule ATA STA MEA 7.29.25
C. Written Comments