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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-24-16 Health and Public SafetyOFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK HEALTH & PUBLIC SAFETY OCTOBER 24, 2016 4:30 P.M. Committee Members Present: John Voorde, Karen L. White, Oliver Davis, Jo M. Broden Other Council Present: Tim Scott, Regina Williams- Preston, Randy Kelly, Dr. David Varner, Gavin Ferlic Others Present: Kareemah Fowler, Joseph Molnar, Kathleen Cekanski - Farrand, Adriana Rodriguez Agenda: Bill No. 59 -16: Proposed SBDP Salary Discussion on City response to the homeless population Committee Chair John Voorde called the meeting to order with two (2) items on the agenda. Bill No. 59 -16: Proposed SBDP Salary Committeemember Karen White made a motion to accept Substitute Bill 59 -16. Committeemember Oliver Davis seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of four (4) ayes. Committee Chair Voorde stated he was part of this negotiation along with Councilmembers Tim Scott and Karen White. He thanked the Administration for all of their hard work during the process. He asked Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski- Farrand for giving a brief overview of the agreement. Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski- Farrand stated she was just one (1) of ten (10) individuals that served on the City's advisory negotiating team that included Councilmember John Voorde, Councilmember Karen White, and Council President Tim Scott. There were also many great individuals that served from the City Administration, starting with Chief of Police Scott Ruszkowski, Operations Division Chief Jeff Rynearson, Deputy City Controller Jennifer Hockenhull, Director of Financial Services Ken Glowacki, HR Specialist Ann Spindler, and Board of Public Safety Agent Stephanie Steele. We worked with eight (8) members representing the Fraternal Order of Police. Since 1986, the City of South Bend has used a combined system of administrators and councilmembers working together on an advisory team so that there would be 455 County-City Building • 227 W. Jefferson Boulevard • South Bend, Indiana 46601 Phone 574- 235 -9221 • Fax 574- 235 -9173 • TDD 574- 235 -5567 • www.SouthBendIN.gov JENNIFER M. COFFMAN ALKEYNA M. ALDRIDGE JOSEPH MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/ CHIEF OF STAFF DEPUTY/ DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK consistency and good reasoning behind the goals and objectives that were wished to be desired across the bargaining table. The proposed ordinance before the Council is a four (4) year deal that sets forth between two percent (2 %) and two point five percent (2.5 %) increases over the next four (4) years. It also reflects the goals Chief Ruszkowski set forth that stressed recruitment, retainment, and reward. As a part of that, the Chief and his staff worked very closely with Mr. Glowacki, who did a ton of work on this deal, to achieve those goals. There have been shift incentives placed into the deal in light of the fact that we have two hundred and forty -one (24 1) men and women serving our Department with eighty (80) officers that could retire next year that have met the twenty (20) year requirements. She turned the presentation over to the Administration representatives to further elaborate on the deal's provisions. Committee Chair Voorde interjected by stating it is important to remember to look at the entire package and not just the salary increase percentage because there are many things in the package that will increase pay for officers that is not calculated into that bottom line. Stephanie Steele, Assistant City Attorney with offices on the 12th Floor of the County -City Building, stated as was said we came into the bargaining with recruitment, retainment, and reward in mind. The agreement was ratified by the FOP and we have received very good feedback from the employees who appreciated the areas of improvement we focused on especially bringing salaries up to par with our neighboring communities. It is a four (4) year agreement and we are focused on that to provide some stability and predictability going into the year 2020. In this agreement we accomplished several things. First we have removed the Patrolman Third Class status, officers now can come in at Patrolman Second Class which makes us more competitive with other area police departments. Together with different incentives we are providing, gives us the same salary bracket as other departments that are nearby. With the idea of retention in mind, we have created different incentive categories beginning with officers who have been with the force for four (4) to nine (9) years and going all the way to officers who have more than twenty (20) years. These are incentives that will create more of a pull to stay and share the knowledge they have gained over the years. We have increased critical duty days from seven (7) to eight (8) which acknowledges for them the holidays that other employees are able to get. We also included an incentive for sign language efficiency which was suggested by Council Attorney Cekanski- Farrand. With the goal of rewarding in mind, we have really taken a look at what were the needs of the Department and where do we want more officers to stay. We have put a lot of the incentives into the second and third shifts which experience a higher volume of the higher crime than some of the other shifts. We have also increased the pay for the field training officers, with the idea in mind that we want to reward those who are doing a wonderful job training the new officers. Other incentives include the military incentive pay. This agreement will meet our three (3) goals. Ken Glowacki, South Bend Police Director of Financial Services with offices at 701 West Sample, stated he would speak about the reasons behind the different incentives. Right now the number of sworn officers is at two hundred and forty -one (241), we had budgeted two hundred and fifty (250). Going forward we know we are going to lose eight (8) officers next year who are in the drop plan, this makes it imperative to try to retain the officers we have. Eighty (80) officers have more than twenty (20) years of experience who could retire at virtually any time. We need to put incentives behind our experienced officers to get them to stay on the force while 2 at the same time we need incentives to make sure we are recruiting new officers. The way seniority works, usually the new officers end up on second and third shifts. To make sure they feel rewarded for the time they had to spend on those shifts, we added incentives. Council Attorney Cekasnki - Farrand stated one (1) thing to add is all the incentives we last put in place will be continued as well because they keep us competitive as a City. No incentives will be removed in this agreement. Scott Ruszkowski, South Bend Chief of Police with offices at 701 West Sample South Bend IN, stated he has been working on negotiations for twenty (20) plus years on all sides of the table. It is a whole different perspective coming into the negotiations as a Chief. It is unprecedented to have a four (4) year contract but it was a painstaking process. We are really trying to recruit the best talent and then make sure they stay here and serve this City for a very long time. The bottom line salary adjustment really does not tell the whole story because some people could see up to an eight percent (8 %) raise over what they are working now. We really wanted to reward those who took the harder and less glamorous shifts such as nights and weekends because they are hard to fill. It is very scary to have less officers than budgeted especially with so many who could retire soon and we need to combat that. There was a lot of behind the doors arguments over the structure of what we were trying to do because this is something we have never done in our department. We were really trying to look towards the future and think about what 2050 look like. We need to prepare now to benefit the citizens and police in and beyond 2050. Chief Ruszkowski thanked Mr. Glowacki for all the hard work he put in on this agreement making the numbers work. Committee Chair Voorde invited the two (2) other Councilmembers on the negotiating team to air their thoughts about the agreement. Committeemember Karen White stated she is very pleased we were able to have a contract for four (4) years that would be so well received. We face many challenges as a police department when we look at our current strength and having so many officers who could retire relatively soon. This agreement will hopefully address those ongoing problems. Councilmember Tim Scott stated he is pleased by how well the negotiations went this time around. We had some great personalities around the table which lead to this unprecedented four (4) year deal. It is amazing working across from the F.O.P. because we all have the end goal of getting the best deal for all parties involved. We had great success working across the table. Councilmember Scott stated he really appreciated the hard work of Mr. Glowacki because his numbers helped place everything in perspective. We listened to the F.O.P and took them seriously which is what we need to do in these negotiations is listen to the other side. Committeemember Oliver Davis asked if the presenters fully believe this is the best way for our department to attract and retain police officers. Ms. Steele stated she believes so. 3 Councilmember Scott added that some of the communities around us are just trying to flat out out -pay everyone but when you look at the various incentives and now removing the lowest class, this gets us up to the top with the communities near us. Councilmember Williams- Preston asked if someone was to retire from the South Bend Police Department, can they then go to Elkhart. Chief Ruszkowski responded that if they retire they cannot then go to another force but if they resign then they could move to Elkhart or another force. It has to do with the state pension program. No one from the public spoke either in favor of or in opposition to the bill. Committeemember Oliver Davis made a motion to send Substitute Bill 59 -16 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Karen White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of four (4) ayes. Discussion on City response to the homeless population Committeemember Oliver Davis stated he would like to discuss for a few minutes what our City's response to the homeless population is, especially regarding those who have set up tents under the bridge near Downtown. He asked the Administration to speak to this issue. Pam Meyer, Director of Neighborhood Engagement within the Community Investment Department with offices on the 14th Floor of the County -City Building, stated she will speak to this issue because she serves on Continual Care which is a consortium of agencies related to the homeless issue. We have been having conversations regarding the homeless situation under the bridge and weather amnesty. The City is in a position to provide funds to Hope Rescue, they are negotiating the purchase of a building which will be for weather amnesty purposes beginning December 1St. Weather Amnesty is generally between from November 1St to April 1St. Tomorrow at the Department of Public Works there will be resolution to delegate funds for that purpose. The building is in good condition and will provide space for people involved in the encampment and others. It is for single male individuals. Life Treatment Center has been a place that has provided beds to men and women. Committeemember Oliver Davis asked what the dollar amount is for this project. Ms. Meyer responded it is not to exceed $125,000. There are some requirements then within the monetary commitment. Hope Ministries is also committing money to rehab the building as well. They have many volunteers who are getting the building in order. Committeemember Davis asked that since we potentially have a lot of people moving December 1St, there is a likelihood that those living in tents will move out from under the bridge. He asked, out of concern for public health and safety, if the City could place some temporary Porta- Potties there until the December 1St deadline. The way people are living out there is very poor. The businesses around that area will not allow them to use their restrooms and there are no areas M available in the evening and night for them to defecate and urinate. These are our citizens and our veterans under that bridge living in squalor. He stated it is not an issue of making people too comfortable so that they won't leave. He asked why can't we do that until December. Ms. Meyer responded she doesn't know that we cannot do that. Brian Pawlowski, Interim Director of Community Investment, stated if we can get the building up and running before December 1 Sc that is the goal. Committeemember Davis stated recognizing that, we still need to handle the situation for right now. This is making the City look inhumane by not providing a bathroom option to these folks. He stated he is not asking for these toilets to be there forever just until this building goes online. To prevent feces piling up on a key street in and out of our City, we should be able to get some toilets out there. Mr. Pawlowski stated he understands his point and he has been out to the site. He stated he has received a lot of phone calls on this issue from local business owners as well. Our goal is to have an alternative to the current situation. We are happy to look into a temporary solution but we may have some issues legally with where we could install temporary toilets. Committeemember Davis stated it is wonderful that the City has two (2) plans to address this situation long -term, but people are going to the bathroom today. He asked that the Council receive feedback from the Administration on this issue. Councilmember Randy Kelly asked if we know off -hand how many beds through all of the programs we have available and a count for how many people are living on the streets currently. Ms. Meyer responded that the number of beds is in a ballpark around fifty -five (55) to sixty (60) beds and the number of people on the streets fluctuates. While this encampment is the most visible it is not the only one (1). Our homeless population has dropped a little bit recently because of the Veteran's Affair's enormous commitment to getting veterans off the street. We have dropped from around one - hundred (100) individuals to around fifty (5 0) to fifty -five (55). Obviously those numbers fluctuate and we think the number is closer to seventy (70). It is hard to track down everybody. The needle has moved slightly downwards because of the Veteran's Affair's commitment but there are still long -term problems. Committeemember Broden stated she would like to see this on our agenda for future meetings because it is such a critical issue for our community. She stated knowing more about our Administration's dollars and resources going into the various groups for the Council is important. These are members of our community and we have heretofore been in the fore -front with offering services but if we are not in ongoing conversations with all parties involved this will continue to be a problem. We are not there yet with the number of beds available and as a City, both Council and Administration, we need to come up with a better plan and attack on this problem. She stated Community Investment is the right place for this issue as so many organizations are struggling with a decrease in funding from the Federal and State governments. We have to be as smart about this issue as we are for all the other issues we address. 5 With no further business before the Committee, Committee Chair John Voorde adjourned the meeting at 5:05 p.m. Respectfully Submitt , �L John Voorde, Committee Chair