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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 2991-2017CITY OF KENAI ORDINANCE NO. 2991-2017 Sponsored by: Administration AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, AMENDING VARIOUS SECTIONS OF KENAI MUNICIPAL CODE TITLE 23 -PERSONNEL REGULATIONS, TO PROVIDE FOR `SEASONAL EMPLOYEES' WHICH ARE NOT CURRENTLY ADDRESSED IN THE KENAI MUNICIPAL CODE. WHEREAS, the City currently employs a number of temporary employees that perform seasonal work, however, this year the City hired two seasonal employees, who, unlike temporary employees as defined by Kenai Municipal Code, will not need to reapply for the position each year subject to performance; and, WHEREAS, pursuant to the City's Public Employee Retirement System Participation Agreement with the state, seasonal employees will be eligible to participate in the State's Public Employee Retirement System; and, WHEREAS, seasonal employees will be unclassified employees and will not be eligible to receive benefits received by classified employees, including health insurance and paid leave; and, WHEREAS, numerous amendments are needed to KMC Title 23 -Personnel regulations, to accommodate `seasonal' employees. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, as follows: Section 1. Form: That this is a code ordinance. Section 2. Amendment of Section of the Kenai Municipal Code: 23.05.070. That Kenai Municipal Code, Section 23.05.070 - Definitions, is hereby amended as follows: 23.05.070 Definitions. As used in Title 23, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated: (a) Unclassified Service. The unclassified service shall include all elected officials, City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, seasonal and temporary employees. Members of boards, committees, commissions, volunteers, contractors, and consultants are not employees. (b) Classified Service. All paid employees not in the [EXEMPT] unclassified service. (c) Full -Time. Employees scheduled to work forty (40) hours per week (except certain Fire Department employees who work an average of fifty-six (56) hours per week) are considered full time. (d) Part -Time. Employees scheduled to work less than forty (40) hours per week. New Text Underlined: [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED] Ordinance No. 2991-2017 Page 2 of 5 (e) Regular. Employees who have completed the probationary period. They may be assigned to work a full-time or part-time schedule. (f) Seasonal. Employees who perform seasonal work for a pre -established Period of not more than six (6) months during a twelve (12) -month Period Seasonal Employees may be assigned a full time or Part-time schedule and are eligible for Public Emplovee Retirement Benefits but are ineligible for other benefits and holiday pay. Seasonal Employees who have completed the Probationary period may return to the seasonal Position each season subject to Performance evaluations general conduct and discipline personnel rules and Policies of the City, layoff, reorganization and other business needs of the City. ([F]g) Temporary. Employees who are hired for a pre -established period, usually during peak workloads or for vacation relief and for not more than six (6) months. They may be as -signed to work a full-time or part-time schedule. They are ineligible for benefits and holiday pay. ([G]h) Probationary Period. Normally six (6) months, except for Police, Communications and Fire, which is normally twelve (12) months. This period can be extended up to, but no longer than, twelve (12) months and eighteen (18) months, respectively. ([H][) Department. The smallest functional budgetary unit of the City government established by the City Council. ([IN) Department Head. A classified employee directly responsible to the City Manager for the administration of one (1) or more departments. ([JLk) Promotion. An advancement of an employee from one (1) job classification to a higher job classification within the same department. ([KN) Transfer. The movement of an employee from one (1) department to another department, regardless of job classification. ([L]m) Genera[ Government Employee. A City employee other than a Public Safety Employee. ([M]n) Public Safety Employee. A person employed in the Police, Fire, or Communications Department. ([N]o) Supervisor. Any person who is responsible to a higher divisional or department level of authority and who directs the work of others. (1012) City Manager. A person directly responsible to the City Council who is authorized and directed to exercise the powers and fulfill the duties as specified in the Charter and Municipal Code of the City of Kenai. ([P]g) City Attorney. A person directly responsible to the City Council. He or she is the chief legal advisor to the Council and all other officers, departments and agencies of the City government in matters relating to their official powers and duties. ([Q]r) City Clerk. An officer of the City, appointed by the Council, for an indefinite period of time and shall serve as clerical officer of the Council. ([R]s) Grievance. An employee's oral or written expression of dissatisfaction with some aspect of his or her employment, a management decision affecting him or her, or an New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED] Ordinance No. 2991-2017 Page 2 of 5 alleged violation of his or her rights for the purpose of attempting to gain an adjustment of said cause of dissatisfaction. Section 3. Amendment of Section of the Kenai Municipal Code: 23.30.030. That Kenai Municipal Code, Section 23.30.030 — Probationary period, is hereby amended as follows: 23.30.030 Probationary [P]Period. (a) All original appointments including those that result from transfers shall be tentative and subject to a probationary period of not less than six (6) months consecutive service, except for police, fire, and communications, which shall be normally twelve (12) months, subject to meeting criteria for certification which may be accomplished following six (6) months of service and except for seasonal employees whose probationary period is established by the term of the first season of employment. Promotional appointment probationary period shall, for all personnel, be not less than six (6) months. (b) In cases where the responsibilities of a position are such that a longer period is necessary to demonstrate an employee's qualifications, the probationary period may be extended; however, no probationary period shall be extended beyond twelve (12) months, or eighteen (18) months for police, fire, and communications, or one additional season for seasonal employees. The employee shall be notified in writing of any extension and the reasons therefor. (c) During the first six (6) months of original probationary period, a new employee (including police, fire, and communications) shall not be eligible for annual leave benefits, but he or she shall earn annual leave credit from the first day of employment and may take leave for sickness during that period to the maximum of the amount of leave accrued. (d) Upon completion of the probationary period, [THE] employees shall be considered as having satisfactorily demonstrated qualifications for the position, shall gain regular status, one step in pay raise, and shall be so informed through his or her supervisor. The employee's anniversary date shall be the first of the month in which the employee's original probation ends. Employees who have gained regular status at the effective date of the ordinance codified in this section shall have their anniversary dates changed to the first of the month in which the employee's present anniversary date falls. (e) During the probationary period, a new hire may be terminated at any time without advance notice, without cause, and without appeal. (f) In the case of promotional appointments, the promoted employee may be demoted at any time during the probationary period without appeal, provided that the probationary employee be reinstated in the class designation from which he or she was promoted, even though this necessitates the layoff of the employee occupying the position. Section 4. Amendment of Section of the Kenai Municipal Code: 23.30.040. That Kenai Municipal Code, Section 23.30.040 - Evaluation, is hereby amended as follows: New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED) Ordinance No. 2991-2017 Page 2 of 5 23.30.040 Evaluation. (a) Evaluations shall be required annually of all classified employees and after each season for seasonal employees. Supervisors shall indicate thereon his or her recommendation as to whether or not the employee should be awarded a pay raise in accordance with the City Pay Plan, KMC 23.55. (b) Approval of increment pay raises are vested in the City Manager Section 5. Amendment of Section of the Kenai Municipal Code: 23.40.010. That Kenai Municipal Code, Section 23.40.010 - General, is hereby amended as follows: 23.40.010 General. (a) All non -temporary, full-time and non -temporary part-time (fifteen (15) hours and over per week) classified employees are entitled to the following benefits, except for medical and hospital insurance which shall be available to non -temporary employees working no less than twenty-five (25) hours per week, as specified in this article. (b) An employee hired under the State of Alaska's Mature Alaskans Seeking Skills Training (MASST) program shall receive only Social Security, Medicare (KMC 23.40.130), Workers Compensation (KMC 23.40.110) and family leave (KMC 23.40.130) benefits. The other benefits in KMC 23.40 shall not apply to persons hired under the MASST program. The hourly wage paid a MASST employee shall be as set by the State of Alaska, but not less than minimum wage. (c) Seasonal employees are eligible to participate in the State Public Employees' Retirement System. Section 6. Amendment of Section of the Kenai Municipal Code: 23.45.020. That Kenai Municipal Code, Section 23.45.020 — Periods of evaluation, is hereby amended as follows: 23.45.020 Periods of [E]Evaluation. Each employee in the classified service shall have his or her performance evaluated at the following periods: (a) End of Probationary Period. Each employee shall be evaluated thirty (30) days prior to the completion of his or her probationary period. The employee must have an overall evaluation of at least "Meets Expectations" in order to become permanent or, in the case of seasonal employees, be eligible for the next season's employment. (b) Annual. Each employee shall receive an annual performance evaluation thirty (30) days prior to his or her anniversary date. (c) Time of Separation. Each employee shall be evaluated at the time of separation and such record shall become part of his or her permanent personnel file. Section 7. Amendment of Section of the Kenai Municipal Code: 23.55.020. That Kenai Municipal Code, Section 23.55.020 — Compensation Structure by Grade, is hereby amended as follows: New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED] Ordinance No. 2991-2017 Page 5 of 5 ordinance, in which case a copy of the amended, modified, or replacement table shall be substituted for the prior table and placed in the code at the end of this title. (b) On completion of the probationary period, each permanent full-time employee exce t seasonal employees, shall be advanced one (1) step. At succeeding anniversary dates, subject to evaluation, employees may be advanced a step increment. The time period normally between steps B to C to D to E to F is one (1) year. The time normally between Steps F to AA to BB to CC is two (2) years. (c) On completion of the probationary period, each permanent part-time employee and seasonal employee shall be advanced one (1) step. At appropriate biennial or quadrennial anniversary dates thereafter, subject to the employee's most recent annual evaluation being "Meets Expectations" or better, the employee, including seasonal employees, may be advanced a step increment. The time period normally between steps B to C to D to E to F is two (2) years. The time period normally between steps F to AA to BB to CC is four (4) years. Section 8. Severability: That if any part or provision of this ordinance or application thereof to any person or circumstances is adjudged invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall be confined in its operation to the part, provision, or application directly involved in all controversy in which this judgment shall have been rendered, and shall not affect or impair the validity of the remainder of this title or application thereof to other persons or circumstances. The City Council hereby declares that it would have enacted the remainder of this ordinance even without such part, provision, or application. Section 9. Effective Date: That pursuant to KMC 1.15.070(f), this ordinance shall take effect 30 days after adoption. ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, this 61 day of December, 2017. <p Q RIAN GABRIEL SR., MAYOR Introduced: November 1, 2017 Enacted: December 6, 2017 Effective: January 5, 2018 New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED] IlVillaye with a Past C# with a Future 210 Fidalgo Avenue, Kenai, Alaska 99611-7794 Telephone: 907-283-7535 / Fax: 907-283-3014 www.kenai.city MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Brian Gabriel and Kenai City Council THROUGH: Paul Ostrander, City Manager er041g .9d FROM: Christine Cunningham, Assistant to City Manager/ HR DATE: October 25, 2017 SUBJECT: Ordinance No. 2991-2017 — Seasonal Employees The purpose of this memo is to provide support for Ordinance No. 2991-2017, amending sections of the Personnel Regulations to provide for seasonal employees, which are not currently defined in Kenai Municipal Code (KMC). The City currently employs individuals on a temporary basis in order to provide a number of services such as grounds maintenance and beautification in the summer months and snow plowing in the winter months. These employees are hired for a term not to exceed six months and without a guarantee that they will be re -hired for similar work in the future. They are ineligible for healthcare coverage and other benefits such as retirement, annual leave and holiday pay. Administration has addressed the definition of temporary employees twice in recent years as follows: • In 2011, in order to avoid confusion with the State of Alaska's classification of permanent seasonal employees, who are guaranteed employment year after year and are, thus, eligible to participate in the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), the City amended position titles to remove "seasonal" from the title and replace it with "temporary" to reflect that these positions were non -permanent. • In 2015, in order to comply with the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA), the City established a twelve-month look back policy and other measures to determine which employees classified as temporary might be considered a "seasonal employee" (i.e. defined as an employee who works six months or less during specific periods each year) and potentially entitled to health care coverage under the ACA. This year, the City hired two full-time Equipment Operators assigned to the Kenai Municipal Airport during the winter maintenance season between November 1 and March 31. Prior to the hire of these employees, two Equipment Operators working in the Streets Division of the Public Works Department were annually assigned seasonal duties at the Airport during the winter months. The two new employees are guaranteed employment year after year subject to performance, and therefore, they are eligible to participate in PERS but, due to the five-month term of their employment, they are not entitled to health care coverage under the ACA. These two positions necessitate the creation of a new category of employee as they are not temporary as defined by KMC and they are not eligible for the benefits offered to classified employees. The amendments provided for in Ordinance No. 2991-2017 address the above issues as well as provide guidance on what benefits apply to seasonal employees, including how the employee is compensated, whether he/she is entitled to pay advancement based upon performance evaluation, and is subject to the City's policies related to general conduct, discipline, termination, and appeal. If approved, these amendments will allow the City to provide consistent application of the City's personnel policies and procedures.