11-11-02 Personnel & Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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tonunitteu ttport *zonniz1 nor tinttttrt fltomlltttta The November 11, 2002 meeting of the Personnel and Finance Committee was called to order by its Chairperson, Council Member James Aranowski at 4:30 p.m. in the Council Informal Meeting Room. Persons in attendance included Council Members Varner, Kirsits, Aranowski, Pfeifer, King, Kelly, Coleman, Kuspa and White; Police Chief Thomas Fautz, Assistant City Attorney Thomas L. Bodnar,Attorney Rod Sniadecki and Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand, Council Attorney. Council Member Aranowski noted that this meeting has been called to address concerns raised by Mr. Rod Sniadecki under "Privilege of the Floor" at the October 28th Common Council meeting. He then called upon the Council Attorney to briefly address the topic. Mrs. Cekanski-Farrand noted that the discussions on the Investigative Division Tier System were formalized after the last police negotiations where a ratification was received. She noted that in addition to the handouts provided by Mr. Sniadecki at the last Common Council meeting (copy attached), that she provided copies of documents to the Common Council along with a memorandum dated November 8, 2002(copy attached). She noted that she met with City Attorney Charles Leone on two (2) occasions to discuss this matter and he assured her that a representative of her office would be present today to address the items set forth in her memorandum. She noted that the ordinances in question established the maximum amounts which could be paid as Detective Classification Pay, and that the Board of Public Safety was legally charged with establishing the day to day regulations addressing the criteria to earn such pay. Assistant City Attorney Thomas Bodnar concurred with the Council Attorney's remarks. He noted that discussions about the Investigative Division go back approximately a decade under then Police Chief Marciniak. The major issue ue was to address that fact that Corporals and Sergeants were doing the same work. At the time the program g p gram was instituted there were 27 Sergeants in the Bureau of which 23 took the test, 11 passed the test and 4 elected not to take the test at all. Currently there are seven (7) of the eleven(11) officers who qualified to receive the pay being paid today, with the other officers leaving the bureau due to retirement, promotion or otherwise. He noted that the word "qualified" as used in the ordinance is a legal axiom and that the Board of Public Safety Resolutions set forth the qualifications. He concluded that the program is being administered properly. Police Chief Fautz concurred that the program has been and is been administered properly. He added that there was much dialogue which took place and that a special committee was involved prior to the implementation of the program. The Council Attorney added that then FOP Attorney Leo Blackwell sent a memorandum via facsimile which states among other things that the concerns of the FOP were properly addressed when the program was instituted. Unfortunately, due to the technology at that time, the only legible copy of that facsimile is on file with the City Clerk and could not be reproduced. Mr. Sniadecki stated that he challenges the qualifications provisions noting that the Board of Public Safety Resolution in 1998 did not refer to testing and that the testing language did not appear until the 2000 Board of Public Safety resolution. Mr. Sniadecki stated that when he was on the Common Council and voted for each of the ordinances that he did not have understanding that there would be testing.