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01-07-2002 Minutes THE MINUTES OF THE OCOEE PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING HELD JANUARY 7,2002 CALL TO ORDER Chairman Resnik called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. in the Commission Chambers Conference Room. He called the roll and declared a quorum to be present. PRESENT: Chairman John Resnik, Members Debbie Bertling and Jean Grafton. Also present were Human Resources Director Fran Diedrich and Deputy City Clerk Green. ABSENT:. Commissioner Howell and Member Betty Hager. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING HELD OCTOBER 23, 2001. Member Grafton, seconded by Member Bertling, moved to approve the Minutes as presented. Motion carried 3-0. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION REGARDING PERSONNEL RULES AND REGULATIONS Human Resources Director Diedrich said revisions are proposed in Sections 8, 12, 13 and 16 of the Rules and Regulations. She explained the proposed changes and why they are needed. Members commented as noted. Section 8 - Holidays 8.02 Eligibility for Holiday Pay G. The proposed addition clarifies that Personal Holidays may not be used for sick leave. Ms. Diedrich said this revision was needed because there had been some problems with this use. Member Bertling said not allowing use of floating holidays for sick leave has been the practice and this addition would formalize it. Members had no objection to this change. Section 12 -Pay Plan & Starting Rates 12.05 - Performance Salary Increases C. This revision deletes language alluding to requirement of overall "Above Operational" rating to receive a merit increase, and adds language clarifying the requirement for Ocoee Personnel Board ,,. January 7,2002 evaluators to use the instrument to justify rating and to provide ways for the employee to improve poor performance. Ms. Diedrich explained the change is requested to require supervisors to include documentation of ways that employees can improve for categories below operational and documentation to support ratings above operational. Member Grafton asked if Department Directors will be required to support operational ratings. Member Bertling said currently City Manager Gleason is requiring Department Directors to document every category. Ms. Diedrich said the proposed changes had been sent to Mr. Gleason and he had not requested any changes, but this will need to be changed if Directors must continue to complete every category. Ms. Diedrich explained that it needs to be possible for employees to receive increases when rated operational so that performance reviews can more accurately reflect reality. She said this was especially important for legal purposes. Currently evaluators are not allowed to give an increase to anyone who is rated less than above operational. She wants to propose to Commission that increases be given on a scale of 1% for standard, 2% for above, and 2'/2% for superior. Chairman Resnik said this means to him that employees who are rated below operational need to be provided an action plan so they may return to operational or above. Ms. Diedrich said the first part is to remove the generalization precluding any increase if rated operational. The second part specifies that supervisors must provide this information, as some of them were not. She said there needs to be uniformity in percentage of increase granted for a given rating so that it can be equitable across the board for everyone. Chairman Resnik agreed there needed to be consistency. Member Bertling explained for the last several years increases were either 0 or 4% and that has been changed to be from 0 to 2'/2%. Members had no objections to these changes. Section 13 - Miscellaneous Policies and Benefits 13.11 - Education Incentive Program Lor 2 Low Ocoee Personnel Board January 7,2002 Fees were added to items authorized for funding under the program. Ms. Diedrich explained this is already being done and needs to be addressed specifically as there are items discussed later which are specifically excluded. Revisions to Section 13.11 C included insertion of a new Item 3 and all subsequent portions of C were renumbered. C. 2. Participants must be continuously seeking a high school diploma, College level professional certification, or College degree. Continuous is defined as attending three out of four College semesters per school year. Exceptions may be made for an employee with a documented seriously debilitating health problem after review by the Educational Incentive Review Committee. Failure to continuously pursue a diploma, certification or degree may result in disqualification from further participation in the program. "-- -. . .. .. • .•• _., ,- . - .• • . Ms. Diedrich said the intent is to encourage continuous participation in hopes there will be achievement of a degree in a reasonable length of time. C. 3. Degrees above the AA or AS level must be directly related to the field of government. C. 6. Fees and books are added to this section for clarification, and must be included with the initial request. Deletions are made to eliminate tuition advances. Employees will be required to pay up front and will be reimbursed when course is completed. The change is recommended for simplification of administration and budgetary constraints. C. 7. This section is changed to delete reference to prepaid tuition funding and to add that approval from Education Committee is required in advance of taking any course. C. 8. This section is changed to delete language regarding advanced payment and to add language clarifying how to properly return texts to avoid reimbursement for texts upon termination. C. 9. An addition to this section further defines that protective clothing or equipment will not be covered under the program. C. 10. Additions to this section clarify what is required for reimbursement and delete language regarding prepaid tuition and texts. 3 Ocoee Personnel Board January 7,2002 C. 10. (A thru C) - Revisions to these sections define criteria for reimbursement under the program (Must be completed, have grade of"C' or better. C. 11. Revisions change period required for reimbursement upon termination from two to three years and specify reimbursement amount based upon a three year schedule: 100% for the first 12 months; 75% for 13 to 24 months, and 50%for 25 to 36 months. Chairman Resnik asked if this is becoming a standard practice. Ms. Diedrich said she could not say that it is standard, as it varies, but this would encourage employees to remain with the City longer. 13.11 E. Correspondence Degree (1-4) Revises referenced section numbers to match revisions as noted above and deletes reference to prepayment of tuition. Chairman Resnik said he thought it would require a greater commitment if employees must pay for the costs up front. Ms. Diedrich commented that she had sent the proposed changes to the Firefighter Union representative requesting their reply by January 21. 13.17 DUI,DWI and Moving Traffic Violations C. Moving Violations 1. & 5. Both sections are revised to increase number of allowed points from seven to ten. Ms. Diedrich explained that the City had had problems attracting qualified professional employees under the current parameters. She said exceptions had been made. Member Bertling said it had been tying their hands in some cases in which applicants have more than seven points. 6. Revises the section to provide that employees whose job descriptions require a valid Driver's License shall maintain a valid Florida Drivers License. Ms. Diedrich explained that requiring all employees to possess a driver's license regardless of their job description would eliminate the possibility of hiring certain handicapped employees for City positions that would not require driving. Section 16 Grievance Procedure 4 Ocoee Personnel Board January 7,2002 16.2 Grievance Procedure 16.3 Step 3-Hearing Committee C. Revised to change Committee members terms of service from one to two years. Ms. Diedrich said this change had been requested by the City Clerk. She said longer terms reduce administrative hassle of elections every year and provide continuity for committee members. As members had no objections to the proposed changes, Member Grafton, seconded by Member Bertlin moved that th- Pers•nnel Board recommen. a..royal of the ch. 'es as presented by Human Resources Director Diedrich.. Motion carried 3-0. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m. Attest: APPR I, kCIA-4:04‘)J11-aki Marian Green, Deputy City Clerk John Resnik, C :irman 5