CCMIN100102 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ms. McKeehan said of the other cities in the area, the only one comparable to Pleasanton is Livermore. There are discussions in the other cities about this retirement proposal, but they have not proceeded to the Council level. She further stated that Danville is not a member of PERS. Dublin and San Ramon are small organizations that do not have police or fire employees. They contract for these services. Pleasanton and Livermore are the only tree full service cities. The nine cities used in comparison studies are all full service cities. Ms. Ayala asked if the main impetus for Pleasanton adopting this retirement package is because six of the nine comparison cities have already done it. Ms. McKeehan believed there were four key points. One is the city's ability to remain competitive in attracting and keeping quality employees. This is a good time to enter into a long term agreement because of the economy. A long term agreement is an advantage from a financial planning stand point. The present labor environment is very good and the City was able to obtain some concessions that were important. The final issue is the fairness and equity of how employees are treated across the range of employees. Making a change for police and fire set the stage for looking at this for the rest of the employees, who asked for this consideration. Ms. Ayala again referred to the Tri-Valley Council and noted that it had decided this issue was worthy of further discussion and it is scheduled on the January 2003 agenda. By taking action at this meeting, Pleasanton will already have made its decision and the other cities will be forced to follow suit or risk not being able to attract qualified employees. Ms. Ayala felt we should look at the bigger picture rather than just considering the wealth of our own city. She commented that teachers have a lower retirement package than Pleasanton employers and this action will only increase the distance. Ms. Ayala also commented that the management staff will have to get the same raises as the employees over the next eight years. Ms. McKeehan said that is not guaranteed. The recommendation, however, from the City Manager in future years will be to match the employees' raises in order to make certain the supervisors are paid more than the employees that report to them. Ultimately, however, that is a Council decision every year. Ms. Michelotti asked what Ms. Ayala wanted Council to do at this meeting. Did she want to renegotiate the contract or what? Ms. Ayala said her biggest concern was what is happening at the state level. She wanted to delay a decision on this package until staff knew what financial cuts were coming from the state level. Ms. Michelotti asked for a brief history of employee contract negotiations. In her experience, when she was elected to Council eight years ago there was no contract with the fire employees. Ms. McKeehan said with regard to the fire department, it is tree the contract had expired and at the same time there were many operational changes as well as other issues on which the parties could not agree. There is a much different, more positive, labor relations environment Pleasanton City Council 8 10/01/02 Minutes