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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-25-18 Personnel and Finance H 4SpUTH 4 � U d FsI \P ACE a X 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FowLE.R, CITY CLERK PERSONNEL&FINANCE JUNE 25, 2018 3:30 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, Gavin Ferlic, Regina Williams-Preston, John Voorde Committee Members Absent: None Other Council Present: Jake Teshka, Oliver Davis, Jo M. Broden, Sharon L. McBride (late) Other Council Absent: Tim Scott Others Present: Bianca Tirado, Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Casey Colvin, Gabriel Murei, David Boling, Elivet Navarro Presenters: Oliver Davis, Aladean DeRose, Bob Palmer, Kyra Clark Agenda: Bill No. 27-18- City Employees, Elected and Appointed Officials Sexual Harassment Awareness Training Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 3:30 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Bill No. 27-18- City Employees, Elected and Appointed Officials Sexual Harassment Awareness Training Committeemember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to accept the Substitute for Bill No. 27-18. Committeemember John Voorde seconded that motion which carried by a voice vote of four (4) ayes. Oliver Davis, 1801 Nash Street, stated,The letter that I sent out on June 20`",2018 outlines six(6) different requests that have been changed from the original bill. Prior to me sharing anything, again, what I saw was the State of Indiana and what they have done in terms of what they did in the last session. I thought it was imperative for us to do something which would make us the first municipality in the State of Indiana to follow with something since that time. I would like to thank our Council Attorney, Bob Palmer, and also from the Mayor's Office, Aladean DeRose, for both of their inputs in working with this. As we look at the training that will be implemented, starting at the beginning of 2019, for its passage today, firstly the substitute bill removes the South Bend Human Right's Ordinance, as originally proposed. That makes sense given the fact that it was understood if, I would ask any of our attorneys afterwards to share any thoughts with that. Given the fact that the South Bend Human Rights Department is a part of the City, it could show as a INTEGRITY1 SERVICE)ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.TIIADo JOSEPH R MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEP=/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211 f 574.235.9173 1 www.southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK conflict if they are a part of that too. So those kinds of issues would be listed by the EEOC downstate. Ms. DeRose had talked about that a few sessions ago and so that makes sense. I think this proposed ordinance more appropriately fits with the ordinances that relate to city offices and employees. Councilmember Davis continued, Subsection two (2), the ordinance clarifies the definition of employee to include all regular full-time and part-time employees. This is looked at. The officials who are separately compensated from the City and all appointed positions are encouraged to attend non-supervised training but are not required to do so.We had looked at it that even those appointed people, we looked at that and the City had requested they are encouraged but not required. And when I finish this we can have both attorneys share their thoughts regarding that and then of course have questions. Three (3), subsection three (3) clarifies a supervised employee as generally including any full or part time employee with authority to be hired, fired, demoted, promoted, transferred or disciplined. We want to make sure everybody understands that because that is a key thing. If any of your roles have hiring and firing power when it comes down to these kind of issues that is what we are talking about. Four (4) addresses the topics to be covered in the training. It is advised to eliminate possible redundancies. In this kind of topic, redundancies should not be an issue because it is so vast when it comes down to different elements of interactions of the job, outside of the job, social media and so many different things that can be covered as we look at the challenges and changes that continually go on as it relates to harassment issues. Councilmember Davis went on, Number five (5), subsection G, states the Department of Human Resources shall maintain a record of employee compliance with the training requirements and shall annually report the names of any City employee who fails to timely complete the training. They will have a list with them,they won't know who those are, so you can check from that standpoint. Number six (6), finally, we are changing the time requirement for new employees from sixty(60) days to six (6) months. That gives the employee adequate time to get everything done from that standpoint. And so, on those six points that are different from the original one (1) that has been submitted, I would like to give the floor to one (1) of the attorneys. Aladean DeRose, City Attorney with offices on the 12th floor of the County City Building, stated, I would like to commend the Council, particularly Councilmember Davis, for bringing this up. It coincides with a review that our Human Resources Department was already making.We have now expanded that and I think this shows the City's willingness and sensitivity to the issues that are facing our women, men and everyone in the workforce. It is an issue that is timely and important. The changes made were consistent with general employment practices and the difference between what the Human Rights Commission does as an agency. They primarily review claims of discrimination in the private sector. If an employee claims there is discrimination by the City, it often involves a question of whether or not the Human Rights Commission can be neutral. We believe it is always neutral and always objective but employees may not always have that same perception. Our general rule is to recommend those kinds of cases be transferred to the EEOC. Our recommendation was to change from the internal Human Rights Commission processing and supervision to Human Resources, which is where we resource all of our training for all City Employees. We work with the Commission to get best practices and ideas of what is occurring but our Human Resource Department does the actual planning sessions in consultation with the Human Rights Commission. The changes we made we think are consistent with the roles of the Council as a legislative body that recommends this to be done as well as the Administration that keeps track of who is doing the training. Those are the things that will monitor and take care of it. Kyra EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld]South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221lf574.235.9173;TTD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Clark was instrumental in assisting with these changes but I want to, again, commend and thank everyone particularly Councilmember Davis and Bob Palmer who were joys to work with. Bob Palmer, Council Attorney with offices on the 4th floor of the County-City Building, stated, I would like to commend Aladean and Kyra. As I've learned many times,the more eyes looking at a subject, the better the product. Many of the changes, we found if we changed one (1) word, we had to go back and change two (2) or three (3) paragraphs to accommodate what we did with changing that one (1) word. So between the three (3) of us, I think we put together a cohesive ordinance. It may not be perfect but it goes a long way toward getting to perfection. The changes were largely practical. As an example we eliminated appointed volunteers. We don't want to discourage people from volunteering to serve on the boards, however, we did believe that if you got paid for that position that we had the right to ask for you to participate in the training. We also thought the rank and file, so to speak, and the non-supervisory employees did not have to deal as much with the complaints of harassment as the supervisory employees did. Their training was sufficient being once a year for one(1)hour.That could be put together however Human Resources wants it to be. That could simply be a video tape or something to that effect. Supervisory employees, we felt, needed at least two (2) hours every other year of interactive training so that they actually get involved and they have some response to situations that involved the training program. Kyra Clark, Director of Human Resources with offices on the 12th floor of the County-City Building, stated, This is really great timing. This is something that shows the City Administration is certainly in line with the wishes of the Council and we are excited you brought this forward. It was a pleasure working with the Attorneys. Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston stated, Thank you everyone for your good, hard work. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, I do have a couple questions. First of all I have some comments. Thank you everyone for your hard work. I do want to ask a couple questions just to make sure I am understanding this correctly. The supervisory employees have a minimum of two (2) hours of interactive sexual harassment training every two (2) calendar years. So that could happen two (2) hours over the course of two (2) years, correct? So there is not a requirement anywhere within this to have a minimum annual training? Ms. Clark replied, Yes, you are correct. Councilmember Broden followed up, Ok, so yet, the non-supervisory full and part time are required annually, correct? Ms. Clark replied, One (1)hour, correct. Councilmember Broden went on, Alright. Having understood that I guess I would want to know the rationale for not having an annual requirement for supervisory individuals. So that is one (1) question. And then if someone could define, and I understand we delineate out the topics, one (1) through ten (10), but we use the word `interactive' in section C and I would like some help understanding what interactive means. I think from at least the remarks that were just made here today, my takeaway would be that section D's participants, the full or part time non-supervisory EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 I TTD 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov 3 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK employees, that could be a video versus something that is actually on site. I guess, define interactive and is that a correct type of way that some individuals may or may not have an interactive one (1) but they certainly could have a non-interactive one (1)?Do you see where I'm coming from with that question? And you don't have to answer all. So the other question is, in terms of our capacity within HR, I know in section E it says it shall be presented by trainers or educators with knowledge and expertise in the prevention of harassment. Is that something we anticipate having in-house capacity to do?Do we have individuals who can provide the items one (1) through ten (10) or do we foresee that being something we contract out for others to do? And then probably my biggest question is related to the exclusion of interns, seasonal and temporary personnel. The interactive opportunities for video training, why could we not hit the training and set an example across our community that anybody that comes on board,whether you are seasonal, temporary or interns, because they are all getting paid, generally, correct, at some level? Why couldn't that be an opportunity so then everybody across the board, who works for us in any capacity at any time within a certain framework has this training? Councilmember Davis stated, So we have, in my understanding, annual. The issue regarding why supervisors do not have to deal with that on an annual basis is, number one (1), interactive issues, number two (2) capacity, and number three (3) seasonal and temporary personnel for number four (4). Councilmember Broden followed up, And I assume how we ask those questions gets at six (6) in terms of the time requirement of that training. If we were going to consider seasonal temporary personnel, and I understand, I assume I understand that we are bringing on people at all different times and we are happy when they come and we need to get them out in the field,particularly with the number of people within Parks. But I think in some ways that is more challenging for those individuals. I don't understand how we can't accomplish that or why we wouldn't support that as both elected officials voting on this but then as a City as a whole. I know within my own local school community to even coach kids I have to sit down and watch a video on an annual basis. Ms. Clark replied, So there are four (4) question you had. Would you like me to run through the answers to those questions? The first one (1) you mentioned was the timing issue and supervisors having two (2)hours. I'm open to amending that to an annual basis if that is important. The reason I think the two hours is important is because it is interactive.It is not just sitting down and lecturing to someone and saying here are the legal definitions of harassment. What we are trying to do is engage in an interactive conversation so that we can change a culture and we do that through conversation. So the point is to be able to sit down, with supervisors, and have that conversation. It is much more meaningful than sitting down and watching a video. A video does have some place, I'm not suggesting it doesn't, but I see that as the difference. I'm not opposed to changing that to annually. The second issue is your question about interactive and I think we just addressed that.I will tell you I would be in favor of having an interactive conversation for the non-supervisory folks. I find that most meaningful. That is not to say there isn't some use in defining it so people understand what we are talking about. That is how the training is currently laid out. It does take a bit more than an hour but I see this as the floor and we need to engage in more conversations. The way I see the training working out right now is that there is a specific amount of education and we open up with an interactive question to try and get people engaged in relatively small groups.Then through that conversation, we then open the door to talk a little bit about our policy, what the law says, and can then continue that conversation and apply it to hypotheticals, talk to people about what they should do and hit all the ideas and goals at the same time. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson BvldI South Bend,Indiana 466011p574.235.9221If574.235.9173 TD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 4 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Ms. Clark went on, Question three (3) was about the capacity in HR. We are busy and this is a hugely important issue. So far, I've done the vast majority of the training. I think I would really like to be able to have other folks do the training as well. Chris Villaire is the Deputy Director of HR and she has taken on a lot more as well. Ian Spindler has also done harassment training and works predominately with Public Safety. I will probably rope Laura and Tierra in at some point as well as they are members of the HR team too. I do think there may be a point where we need to get a video and I don't like what I have seen so far. So there probably is a need there if we aren't able to have those conversations. The last question was about the intern, temporary and seasonal employees and the one (1) thing I think that is important to note is that every new employee, whether you are seasonal, temporary or otherwise, they do participate in an orientation and that orientation does include discussion and specific identification of the City's harassment policy. It is gone through very.quickly and on the very first day it is as though they are drinking from a fire hose. That is why we think it is important to have this conversation ongoing with every City employee. To the extent it does become important to have a video, we can explore that. I think it is just important to note that every City employee does know about that policy and every employee does have some level of training not only in that but on safety in the workplace. Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, I think one (1) of the things Councilmember Broden was asking is,in the initial draft of this ordinance,the requirement was to have this training done within the first sixty(60) days, so I think the question was why we are pushing that out to six(6)months. Specifically, if we are including all other employees, the season would be done for some of the temporary and seasonal employees. And you mentioned that these folks are getting some of this upfront in their orientation. So my question is what the objection would be to codify anything? What would be the objection to putting in these other folks, the interns, temporary and seasonal employees into this ordinance? Ms. Clark replied, So on the first question was about the six(6) weeks to six (6) months and that is because on day one (1) employees are drinking from a fire hose. We go over it and go over the issue at that point. The timing is somewhat flexible but what I really liked is to be able to have people know faces and people and understand their environment. The policy outlines all, if not most, of the topics of this training. Councilmember Sharon L. McBride arrived at the meeting at 3:54 p.m. Ms. Clark went on, The flexibility in time is not because we don't want to train as often. It is because we want people to feel comfortable where they are and know who they are. That way people are a little bit more comfortable and when we are engaging in a conversation and are trying to have that interactive discussion, it is more meaningful to people. The goal is not to have it just every six (6)months. It is about flexibility and comfort ability. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She then turned the floor back to the Committee for further comment or main motion. Councilmember Davis asked, Will there be any need to look at this between Committee and Council? Are you comfortable Councilmember Broden? EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 46601:p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 7M 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 5 0 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committee Chair White stated, If they want to convene in between meetings and change things, that will have to come as a second substitute and will have to be accepted at that time. Committeemember Ferlic made a motion to send Substitute Bill No. 27-18 with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Williams-Preston seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. With no further business,Committee Chair White adj ourned the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 3:56 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Karen White, Committee Chair EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION ( INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221lf574.235.9173,TM574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 6