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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-30-98 WS MINUTES OF THE OCOEE CITY COMMISSION WORK SESSION HELD JUNE 30, 1998 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Vandergrift called the work session to order at 7:35 p.m. in the Commission Chambers, and announced that Commissioner Howell called this meeting to discuss the Police Take Home Car Plan and Employee Survey. PRESENT: Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioners Anderson, Glass, Howell and Parker. Also present were City Manager Shapiro, Fire Chief Strosnider, Police Chief Mark, City EngineerlUtilities Director Shira, Community Relations/Projects Director Shira, Finance Supervisor Carter, Public Works Director Smith and City Clerk Grafton. ABSENT: None Mr. Shapiro stated that his job is to comment on what is appropriate financially, and he would like to put together a budget that works for everyone. He said the Commission is there to set policy, and staffs job to find a way to put it together and make it work. Mr. Shapiro said they all need to work as a team for the good of the City. Mayor Vandergrift introduced a special citizen, Captain Jack Stacy of the Orlando Police Department, and thanked him for coming. Jack R. Stacy, Jr., 923 Cool Springs Circle, stated he has been a police officer for 25 years, and is a Division Captain for the Orlando Police Dept. He said they have been trying to set up the Indy Plan for a few years but due to the size of the city and cost they have not succeeded as of yet. He suggested that Ocoee get this plan to work while the city is still in its growing phase. The plan reduces emergency response time which is a benefit to the citizens and to management and helps improve the tidiness of the vehicles. He added that shifts can be changed at a moments notice and a large number of people are immediately accessible. Mr. Stacy said that now is the time for the city to act on this plan. COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS Commissioner Howell said he asked for this meeting to get ideas from other Commissioners to find a solution. Also, he had heard mixed reports on whether the employee survey is really needed. He would like to see what has changed since doing the last survey, and feels this is the only way the Commissioners have to find out how the employees feel, without interfering in city business. Commissioner Anderson commented that it is not his job to give police personnel benefits, but rather to set policy. He would like to see the take home cars inside the city limits, but sees no benefit to the citizens to take home cars outside the city limits. Ocoee City Commission Work Session June 30, 1998 Commissioner Glass said he has spoken to others, including some in the Orlando Police Department, but there was no uniform position. He stated it should be the decision of the Police and Management to decide the appropriateness, and the commissioner's decision whether to budget the plan. He said he would keep an open mind and listen to the cost, then make his decision. Commissioner Parker said she wanted the "best bang for the taxpayer's buck", and that she spends time with citizens who would like to see more police presence in the communities. She stated she does not see the plan as a benefit to the officers, but as a benefit to the citizens, and a savings on the maintenance and wear and tear of the vehicles. She said they need to budget the cars the same way they would budget a garbage truck. Mayor Vandergrift spoke in favor of the plan and stated he would like to set up a committee to look in depth at the plan. He said it would be good for the safety of the citizens and officers, and suggested some details of how the plan might be implemented. He asked Chief Mark to review his Staff report of April 27. Chief Mark responded that the cost factor was too high at the time this memo was written. Captain Wilson stated that at present there are 25 police vehicles on the road. There are 9 patrol officers in the city limits, but would need 6 new cars to start the program. Mr. Shapiro added that the lease expense over a three year period would be $27-28,000 with about $1,100 per year for maintenance. There was a discussion, at this point, about the number of vehicles needed, how many were included in the budget, how to budget future cars, how to use the new cars, comparing mileage of cars for different officers and proposals for usage with the new plan. COMMENTS FROM PUBLIC Tracy Payne, an officer with the City of Ocoee, spoke on behalf of the plan and proposed that officers have a personal car even if they were not taking it home. She listed some of the problems that now exist with sharing cars and said the City's number one priority should be to see that each officer has a car. She added that this could be used as an incentive to attract the type of people the city would like to hire, as right now the pay is not competitive enough to do that. She suggested that the older cars should not be used in the field at all because of safety. She said the officers are concerned that they might lose pay raises or health benefits to pay for the Plan and that the officers would like to see a raise in their base salary. Mayor Vandergrift commented that it is not the intent of this commission to dock anyone's pay or benefits to pay for the plan. 2 Ocoee City Commission Work Session June 30, 1998 Mr. Shapiro asked Officer Payne if she believed the police force could be patient if the city had a start to the plan, but might take up to 4 years to have all the officers in cars. Ms. Payne responded they could be more than patient as long as they understood that officers need to see how the plan would be implemented. Glen Edwards, also an officer with the City of Ocoee, said he would like the Commission to consider giving the officers who live outside the city limits an option to pay a mileage charge to take home their cars. Ray Schaub, officer with the Ocoee Police Department since 1989, made the following points, (1) he thought that they could be patient while the city goes through its growing pains, (2) as he understood the Indy Plan, they are to use their cars while off duty, including with their families, even though no one is this department had intentions of putting their families in their cars, (3) having a car ready to use is a huge morale booster for the officers. Debbie McDonald, Personnel Specialist, noted that the Liability Insurance would increase due to more exposure, especially if the family members were to ride in the car. Mr. Shapiro said he did not think any officer here would care to take their family in the cars because it would not be safe. He suggested that the committee be made up of police officers, the Chief, the Finance Director and staff member to put together a working plan. He said he does not think they need a committee from outside. He asked for direction from the Commission. Bob Smith, Public Works Director, asked that consideration be given for take home vehicles for the on-call people in Public Works. City Manager Shapiro said the plan should include Utilities as well. Commissioner Parker suggested they move in the direction of having one officer from each squad or unit participate with police management and members of the finance committee to set up the parameters beginning with the in-city program and later expanding to a five mile option. She also said they were capable without a commissioner or any other management and thought they could be fair. Commissioner Glass stated that Ocoee has an incredible Police Department, and that hiring Chief Mark was one of the best decisions the city has made. He said they are capable of putting together a program and he would like to see it presented to the Commission with more details. Commissioner Anderson agreed with Commissioners Parker and Glass. Commissioner Howell agreed with the other Commissioners, but would like to know if the new plan would cover the officers already taking home a car now. Mayor Vandergrift suggested practicing "rigid flexibility". He said he saw a positive attitude at this meeting and directed that the plan be on the agenda for the next commission meeting. 3 Ocoee City Commission Work Session June 30, 1998 RECESS: 9:05-9: 15 p.m. Mayor Vandergrift opened the floor for discussion regarding the employee survey and possibly a future citizen survey to see how well the Commission and employees are doing. Commissioners Comments Commissioner Glass said he fully supported doing a survey, but would like to use the same survey as a few years ago in order to compare the results. He later changed his position to agree with the other Commissioners. Commissioner Parker would also like to see survey, as long as it was done by an outside agency. Commissioner Howell agreed with Commissioner Parker. Commissioner Anderson said he did not see a need for a new survey, however, he said that if a survey is to be done it should be objective and done by a professional. Mayor Vandergrift proposed doing a survey periodically, using the first as a benchmark. Debbie McDonald asked who wanted the survey done. Commissioner Parker responded that the commissioners wanted it because of the feedback they were getting. Ms. McDonald said the Commissioners should tell people to use the proper channels that have been set up for them, such as the Employee Committee. Lisa Strickland, representing the Employee Committee, said that in response to the special meeting notice an informal poll was taken of 108 employees asking whether another survey should be done. The results were as follows: 53% No, 40% Yes, 7% Had no opinion. The employee committee had addressed the issue of the survey 1 1/2 years ago but came to the conclusion that with all the new routes now available to the employees it was unnecessary. She also suggested that if there was a new survey done the employee morale would suffer if the results turned out like the first one. Commissioner Howell said he had spoken to the people in the field who said they would only respond to a survey run by and outside agency. He said employee morale affects the citizens and that makes it the Commission's business. Peggy Issacson suggested that employee surveys can be an important tool. She said privacy is a big problem. Ms. Issacson also stated that an outside agency could look at the original survey objectively to determine if the results are valid. She said that the Commission would have to be ready to get negative feedback, also they must be ready to respond to negative or positive feedback constructively. In answer to the Commissioners' questions on cost she replied that it would depend on how they wanted the project done and how it is rated, but the cost would be determined by the RFP. 4 Ocoee City Commission Work Session June 30, 1998 A short discussion ensued how best to construct the survey itself Mr. Shapiro suggested that Commissioner Parker, with the Personnel Director, Finance Director, Community Relations/Project Director and one other department head not involved do an RFP, and then schedule workshops with the professional to help set up the survey. Mayor Vandergrift said that they will move forward with the employee survey and directed that it be placed on the July 7, 1998 agenda. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m. APPROVED: SS<A()~~' S. Scott Vandergrift, Mayor Attest: Je 5