■ Negotiations wrap with all but three city employee unions
Benicia has concluded negotiating with most of the bargaining units representing city employees, and proposed agreements have been ratified by a majority of members of all but three labor agencies that have slated votes soon on the city’s offers.
Benicia City Council will decide Tuesday whether to approve memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2017, for senior managers, Benicia Police Officers Association, Benicia Public Service Employees Association, Benicia Dispatch Association and Local One, Assistant City Manager Anne Cardwell wrote in a report to City Manager Brad Kilger.
Cardwell also recommended approving a similar three-year modification for City Attorney Heather McLaughlin, Kilger and unrepresented employees as well as a two-year MOU, from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016, for mid-managers.
The Council will be asked to approve a $293,469 adjustment to the 2014-15 budget to accommodate the changes, she wrote.
The estimated cost in the 2015-16 fiscal year is about $378,734, and for 2016-17 the additional cost would be $474,744, she wrote. About 75 percent of that will come from the General Fund, she wrote.
In 2010 and 2011, city employees took compensation reductions of at least 10 percent to help Benicia balance its budget. They have since been agreeing to what Cardwell called “status quo one-year extensions” with no salary increases.
She explained that employees have recognized how the city is trying to develop a sustainable community services strategy and address subsequent budgetary challenges, and have agreed to minimal increases to leave time and pay.
They also agreed to forego any salary increases for the first two years of the agreement, she wrote.
These agreements have 32 hours of “MOU leave annually for employees, and any that isn’t used must be exchanged for cash rather than get carried forward.”
The MOUs also specify Benicia would increase its contribution to employee medical benefits: $20 a month for individual employees, $50 for employee plus one dependents, and $75 for employees with two or more dependents, for each year of the agreement.
Though no pay increases would take place during the first two years, by the third year of the agreement, the third-year employees would get a 1-percent salary adjustment effective July 1, 2016, and another 1-percent adjustment Jan. 1, 2017.
Because the labor groups have cooperated with the city, Cardwell wrote, the MOUs include four working days of “holiday leave” each year, though these would have no cash value.
Mid-management agreed to a similar two-year MOU that covers both types of leave and the medical contribution, but doesn’t include the third-year changes for salary, benefits and holiday closure leave, Cardwell wrote.
In other matters:
• The Council will authorize a response to a Solano County grand jury report that analyzed the Geographical Information System and said Benicia’s upper management doesn’t support the program, and that attendance at the system’s meetings has been poor.
The city’s response is that Benicia’s management receives briefings regularly about the system, that Benicia had no information technology manager to send to the system’s board meetings, and that that changed once the city hired Naveed Ashraf, who has been attending the meetings.
In addition, the grand jury found that Benicia was among the cities that sent non-management employees with limited or no commitment authority.
Benicia’s response agrees with the finding, but noted that Information Technology Analyst Sandra Ayala had been communicating with those who had the authority to agree or disagree on board matters. That, too, has improved with Ashraft’s hiring.
Benicia’s response must be sent to the grand jury by Sept. 11.
• The Council will be asked to award to MCK Services, Concord, a contract worth $582,216.90 for an East Second Street overlay project from East O Street to Military East; East S Street about 300 feet north of the Corporation Yard entrance; and the eastern abutment of the East Second Street bridge over West Channel Road to east of Reservoir Road in Benicia Industrial Park.
An earlier version of the contract was approved, but the scope of work was expanded to use a federal grant the city has been awarded.
• The city will issue proclamations recognizing National Preparedness Month and the Benicia Old Timers’ winning of the 2014 Northern California Old Timers Baseball Association Championship.
• The Council will hear presentations on a proposed citywide computer software change that would improve the operations of the Finance Department; another report from the Solano State Parks Committee; and a report from Jack Wolf, principal of Wolf Communications, on the city’s tourism and marketing program.
• The Council will meet in a closed session at 6 p.m. to discuss labor matters.
The regular meeting will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.