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Minutes - Board - 2013-10-09C Q COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT MINUTES OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING OCTOBER 9, 2013 CALL TO ORDER The Board of Directors of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District met in special session on October 9, 2013 at 9:48A.M. at 628 W. 19th Street, Costa Mesa. ROLL CALL DIRECTORS PRESENT: James Ferryman, Robert Ooten, Art Perry, Arlene Schafer, Mike Scheafer DIRECTORS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Scott Carroll, General Manager; Alan Burns, District Counsel; Anna Sanchez, Administrative Services Manager; Noelani Middenway, Deputy Clerk of the District OTHERS PRESENT: None PUBLIC COMMENT President Ferryman invited members of the public to address the Board. Seeing no one, President Ferryman closed public comments. DISCUSSION REGARDING CREATING A PERSONNEL COMMITTEE President Ferryman introduced the item and stated that he did not feel that the Personnel Committee should be more than an advisory entity that could serve a purpose in extraordinary cases if District employees need a hearing body. President Ferryman noted that the Board of Directors would be very select in the items to be heard. Director Perry distributed a draft Personnel Committee policy for review and comments to identify the objectives, organization and responsibilities of the proposed Personnel Committee. COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT PAGE 2 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 9, 2013 Mr. Alan Burns, District Counsel, indicated that the Personnel Committee would be an Ad Hoc committee to meet as needed. General Manager Carroll questioned if the Ad Hoc committee would need to comply with the Brown Act. Mr. Burns indicated that the Ad Hoc committee would not need to comply with the Brown Act. Vice President Scheafer questioned if a Standing Committee was able to meet as needed or if meetings would need to be scheduled. Mr. Burns indicated that part of the definition of a Standing Committee is that it meets regularly. Vice President Scheafer questioned if the Standing Committee could meet semi- annually or as needed. Mr. Burns confirmed that the Standing Committee could meet semi - annually or as needed but questioned why a Standing Committee would be preferred over an Ad Hoc Committee. Vice President Scheafer expressed concern that only two members of the Board would be able to participate in an Ad Hoc Committee where a Standing Committee would allow the entire Board to participate. Mr. Burns clarified that only two members of the Board would be able to participate in both an Ad Hoc Committee and a Standing Committee. Mr. Burns indicated that the Personnel Committee would work up a subject matter and present it to the full Board. President Ferryman noted that the committee would make a recommendation to the Board and has no decision making power. President Ferryman suggested that a future meeting be held to allow the Board and Mr. Burns time to review the draft Personnel Committee policy. Director Perry commented that he would like to add to the draft policy that District employees be surveyed twice a year to evaluate what the staff feels and ask that management participate in the survey as well. Mr. Burns noted that the draft Personnel Committee policy states that the committee shall handle all major personnel issues and indicated that was very broad. Vice President Scheafer expressed concern regarding the policy statement indicating that the Personnel Committee would be responsible for assisting in personnel reviews and indicated that he did not agree with that statement. COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT PAGE 3 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 9, 2013 President Ferryman concurred. Director Perry removed that line item from the draft policy. Mr. Burns noted that the policy included a statement regarding probationary personnel and noted that the District provides no vested rights to employees. Mr. Burns indicated that he understood that the Board has no intentions to change that and questioned if his understanding was correct. President Ferryman confirmed that Mr. Burns was correct. Director Perry removed that line item from the draft policy. Director Ooten indicated that the Personnel Committee can review the policies related to personnel, not interact directly with supervisors and management's evaluations of personnel, and requested that the review of policies related to the performance evaluations be added to the policy. Director Perry indicated that he liked the policy of reviewing and recommending compensation levels to the Board of Directors, including the General Manager as it is done annually. Vice President Scheafer indicated that he did not want to recommend to the General Manager how much to compensate an employee unless it goes outside of the policy that was already established. General Manager Carroll indicated that all salary adjustments, job classifications and changes to policies are taken to the Board for approval. Mr. Carroll then noted that prior to 2010 any employee would be entitled to a 5% raise regardless of their level of performance and that the Board had approved a change to the evaluation form identifying the criteria to be met and the goals to be achieved which would provide a 5% salary increase for exceptional performance, and a 3% salary increase for average performance, in addition to the CPI increase. Director Perry commented that a closer look needs to be given to the policy so that a less than exceptional performance does not receive a 6% salary increase that would include the CPI. General Manager Carroll indicated that the role of the General Manager is to place an employee on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and not provide a salary increase until the employee has achieved the goals of the PIP then the employee would receive a 3% salary increase. Mr. Carroll noted that the ranges have changed dramatically over the past three years and that the CPI is the only guaranteed increase. COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT PAGE 4 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 9, 2013 Director Perry commented that he felt it was important to have a committee to assist in reviewing such policies and to make a recommendation to the full Board. General Manager Carroll requested clarification as to if the desire of the Board was to review every employees performance evaluation to determine whether he or she should receive a 3% or 5% raise. Director Ooten clarified that what is being requested is a sort of workshop and that there needs to be an education and information process of when policies are implemented. General Manager Carroll noted that an Employee Handbook was adopted in June, 2012 and included all of the District's policies that the Board had approved and is available on the District website. Director Perry felt that the Personnel Committee would be a valuable tool for the Board to be provided more information at the meetings after the committee has met with the General Manager and staff. Director Ooten indicated that the Personnel Committee would provide a review of what the General Manager intends to implement. Vice President Scheafer noted that the Personnel Committee would provide an outlet for a disgruntled employee and there seems to be a thought process that such a committee is needed. Director Perry commented that the Personnel Committee would be able to meet with the disgruntled employee to discuss a matter without going directly to District Counsel and noted a couple of instances where the Personnel Committee could have resolved issues in house without involving District Counsel. General Manager Carroll questioned what parameters were being set for the Personnel Committee. Vice President Scheafer agreed with Mr. Carroll and supported President Ferryman's comment about setting parameters that the Personnel Committee would be willing to hear. District Counsel Burns noted that the committee would need to be careful about providing the right to petition a meeting, hearing, and a complete review of the action and felt that it should be something under extraordinary circumstances so that it is in the committee's discretion as to whether or not to hear it. President Ferryman did not feel that the Personnel Committee should meet on a regular basis. COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT PAGE 5 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING HELD OCTOBER J, 2013 Ms. Anna Sanchez, Administrative Services Manager, questioned District Counsel Burns as to what impact the Personnel Committee would have on the current grievance procedure that is in the Employee Handbook. Mr. Burns responded that this would go beyond the current grievance procedure that currently stops at the General Manager. Director Ooten indicated that he should review the grievance procedure. Mr. Burns indicated that a lot of the proposed policy had been written for individuals that have a necessary right to their jobs and stated that the purpose of the proposed committee is to not provide rights, but to allow the opportunity to talk to someone about a situation. There are no rights for a hearing or an appeal. Director Perry questioned if it would be appropriate for the Personnel Committee to meet quarterly or bi- yearly. President Ferryman indicated that the Personnel Committee should meet as needed and that the chain of command should be strictly adhered to. Mr. Burns confirmed that the Personnel Committee would not hear an item unless it had followed the chain of command. Ms. Sanchez questioned if the employees' rights are changed once a hearing committee has been established as the end of the procedure. Mr. Burns confirmed that the Personnel Committee would come into play once the grievance procedure had been exhausted. General Manager Carroll indicated that Ms. Sanchez's concern was that changes to the policy was going to create vested employees. Mr. Burns noted that he understands that the Board does not want to create a right to a hearing. Ms. Sanchez indicated that the proposed policy explained what a hearing committee was and that the Personnel Committee would stand as such should the employee go through the grievance procedure and find that the resolution was not to their satisfaction. Ms. Sanchez questioned if the policy would infer rights to the employee once a hearing committee has been established. Vice President Scheafer noted the importance of addressing that there is protocol to adhere to. Vice President suggested creating an Ad Hoc Committee comprised of two Board Members and two staff members to fine tune the policy. COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT PAGE 6 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 9, 2013 President Ferryman indicated that the full Board should provide its initial input. Director Perry questioned if Mr. Burns would be able to take the details of the current discussions and provide an outline for the Board's review. Mr. Burns confirmed that he would be able to provide an outline with the understanding that the Board will provide additional information. Vice President Scheafer expressed the importance of being cognizant of things that staff has addressed and supported Director Ooten's comment regarding the Personnel Committee being a policy making body. President Ferryman expressed interest in incorporating a grievance committee into the current grievance procedure. General Manager Carroll commented that the concern is that staff did not feel that was possible. Mr. Burns stated that the current grievance policy ends with the General Manager and that if such a policy were to be created that it would need to state 'now withstanding that, in an extraordinary circumstance, the Personnel Committee may determine to hear an issue'. Ms. Sanchez questioned if the term 'extraordinary' would need to be defined. Mr. Burns indicated that the terms would be at the sole discretion of the Board and noted that the Board is not giving an employee rights. President Ferryman questioned if the Board was in agreement with the process being taken. Director Ooten stated that there is a legal process that needs to take place before it is brought before the Board. Mr. Burns clarified that the purpose of the process was to inform the employee that this is not a legal process as they have no rights but that the Board has an open door. Director Schafer expressed appreciation of the policy being reviewed and revised prior to implementation. President Ferryman asked if a follow -up meeting should be held and requested that Deputy District Clerk Noelani Middenway schedule a future meeting. Mr. Burns indicated that he would work with General Manager Carroll and Ms. Sanchez to ensure that no issues that could arise are overlooked. COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT PAGE 7 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 9, 2013 Vice President Scheafer requested that language be added identifying which staff members would serve on the Personnel Committee, namely Ms. Sanchez and General Manager Carroll. III. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, President Ferryman adjourned the meeting at 10:10 a.m. A-4 P�9 Art Perry Secretary a es Ferryman esident