HomeMy WebLinkAboutORDINANCE 1086-1985Suggested by: Administration
CITY OF KENAI
ORDINANCE NO. 1086-85
AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA,
INCREASING ESTIMATED REVENUES AND APPROPRIATIONS BY $9,428 IN THE
1985-86 GENERAL FUND BUDGET TO HIRE A PART-TIME EMPLOYEE IN THE
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
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WHEREAS, in 1985, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements a
were imposed upor, municipalities, and, as a result, the City of
Kenai changed the work week of dispatchers from an average
42-hour we-k to n 40-hour week; and,
WHEREAS, this shift change has reduced the hours available for
general secretarial duties and for typing reports for the Court
System; and,
WHEREAS, since July 1, 1985, the Finance Department has loaned a
secretary to the Police Department for an average of 15 hours per
week; and,
WHEREAS, this arrangement is unsatisfactory to both departments,
and the City has determined that the public will be best served
by appropriating sufficient monies to hire a 20-hour per week
employee at "part-time 9" pay for the Police Department.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
KENAI, ALASKA, that the following increases in estimated revenues
and appropriations be made:
General Fund
Increasing Estimated Revenues:
Appropriation of Fund Balance $9,428
Increasing Appropriations:
Police - Salaries $7,614
" - Annual Leave 776
" - PERS 849
" - ESC 76
" - Worker's Compensation Insurance 65
" - Supplemental Retirement 48
IL 428
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PASSED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, this
day of September, 1985.
I
M WAG E , OR
ATTE T:
e Whelan, City Clerk
First Reading: September
Second Reading: September
Effective Date: September
Approved by Finance: Cd?,4
8/27/85
MEMO TO: William J. Brighton, City Manager
FROM: Charles A. Brown, Finance Director L° 4 Q
DATE: August 22, 1985
SUBJECT: Staffing of Finance Department
At the time that it became apparent that Lil was going to retire, I
mentioned to you that I might try to make the secretary/receptionist
position in the Finance Department into a part-time position. Work was
relatively slow at that time and I was looking for a way to save the
City money, as long as the work was still getting done.
I also said that I was not going to decrease the budget; I wanted to
leave the option open of going back to a full-time position if it
didn't work well.
When Rick submitted his budget in Dispatch for the 1985-86 year, he
requested a half-time secretary to act as clerk/receptionist. That
request was denied. This, however, shows that he identified this need
prior to knowledge of the dispatchers' shift change issue.
Shortly after this, we found that we would either have to pay the "
dispatchers overtime for working over forty (40) hours per week, or
i change their shifts to four tens. The Police Chief said that four tens
would be difficult without some additional secretarial help. At that
point you remembered our previous conversation and asked if I could
share my secretary with Dispatch. I agreed to try it.
At this time, my secretary works three (3) hours per day in Dispatch
(in secretarial work) and five (5) hours in Finance. Rick is getting
fifteen (15) hours per week of secretarial help; but he lost twelve (12)
hours per week with the Dispatchers'shift change (42 to 40 hour weeks).
I, of course, am losing fifteen (15) hours per week of help.
I regret to say that this situation has not worked well. Finance work
t is not as up-to-date as it should be. Rick sees some problems with his
arrangement as a permanent situation. And, frankly, it has been
difficult for the employee. She works for at least two supervisors,
and it's undoubtedly difficult to set priorities for two jobs.
My conclusion is that I made an error in believing that Finance could
make do with a part-time secretary. I am viewing the situation as
short-term.
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Page 2
Let me point out that under my original proposal, this would be no
problem. I would simply change my part-time position to full-time.
But under the current situation, I now have another department
involved. This was not intended when I originally discussed this with
you.
Rick is very capable of discussing his secretarial problems with you,
so I am not going to go into that. My own problems involve a shortage
of help staffing the front counter, answering the phone, filing, and
other routine task*. In short, I need to return to a full-time
secretary.
Let we throw some numbers at you. If we had left the dispatchers with
the same shift and paid the overtime, it would have cost the City an
additional $16,000 per year. So, that is the savings by using the
current sharing arrangement. Rick can hire a 20-hour per week employee
at a cost of $12,500 per year (all these figures include benefits).
Rick tells me that a 20-hour per week employee meets his needs.
In other words, given the two options identified in the fourth paragraph
above, we would still save $3,500 per year hiring additional help than
we would by paying the overtime. Obviously, what we are doing no a
appears to save even more, but at the cost of service to the public and
our own efficiency. And, in fact, the apparent $16,000 of savings is
substantially reduced by overtime in my department. Last year, for all
of the year for all of Finance, we had $383 of overtime. At the rate
we are going this year, we'll have a hard time staying within our.
$1,880 budget for overtime.
In summary, I believe:
1) The current arrangement is not effective or efficient.
2) We can rectify the situation at a minimal cost, about $12,500 per.
year (Less about $1,500 per year of excess overtime in my
department).
3) The current situation is overworking one employee and is unfair to
her. It is bad for morale in my department.
The cost to provide the half-time employee for Dispatch is about $9,539
for the rest of this fiscal year. I propose to submit an ordinance to
Council at the Sept. 4 Council Meeting to appropriate these monies,
along with a copy of this memo to explain the situation to Council. If
this is not accepeable to you, please advise.
TO: William Brighton, City Manager
FROM: Richard Ross, Chief of Police of-,
SUBJECT: Police Department Clerical/Receptionist
Re: 8/22/85 memorandum from Charles Brown
DATE: August 26, 1985
This is to advise you of my concurrence with the memorandum from Charles Brown. The
Police Department is in need of clerical/receptionist support, and the proposal
suggested by Mr. Brown in his memorandum would remedy the situation. It would
increase the efficiency of both departments while reducing tU.e overtime usage in
Finance. The proposal would result in very little increased cost to the city.
Background and Justification
During budget preparation in February, 1985, a request was submitted for a !I time
(20 hours per week) clerical/receptionist position which could be time shared with
another department. It was determined no other department was requesting a position
that could be shared and this requested budget item was deleted (re: budget
worksheets). Justification for this position was to provide early morning
clerical/receptionist coverage which would allow dispatch coverage to be
reallocated later iu the work day.
In March, 1985, it was learned that a U.S. Supreme Court decision mandated a 40
hour work week for dispatchers instead of the average 42 hours being worked. At
this time a discussion was held in your office with myself and the Finance
Director. Mr. Brown advised that he would loan 20 hours per week of
clerical/receptionist coverage from his department beginning July 1, 1985. In the
Interim April - June, overtime was paid to dispatchers based on the 42 hour work
week. Effective July 1, their work week was reduced to 40 hours, a loss of 12 hours
per week to the department.
Initially the position was on loan for 20 hours per week (7-11 a.m. Monday -
Friday) . The net gain to the Department, after the loss of the dispatcher hours.
was 8 hours per week of clerical/receptionist coverage. Within a few weeks Mr.
Brown advised that he would have to cut this back to 15 hours (8-11 a.m. Monday -
Friday). This resulted in a severe backlog on routine clerical needs, late reports
to court for daily arraignments, and considerable pressure on the person assigned.
On 8/20/85 I met with Mr. Brown to discuss the problems we were having and to
request that the hours available be increased back to 20 as originally scheduled.
Mr. Brown advised that he could not do this. He outlined his corresponding problems
and use of overtime to provide the hours that were presently being provided.
Richard A. Ross
Chief of Police
cc: Charles Brown
Finance Director