CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION
APRIL 17, 2015 COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL 211 WEST ASPEN AVENUE 8:00 A.M.
MINUTES
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1. | Call to Order |
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Mayor Nabours called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
2. | Roll Call
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Others present: Interim City Manager Jeff Meilbeck; Police Chief Kevin Treadway, Deputy Police Chief Dan Musselman |
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3. | Roundtable Discussion on Police and Dispatch Staffing Needs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Police Chief Kevin Treadway thanked Council for the opportunity to have an open discussion about the staffing challenges in the Police Department. He introduced Deputy Chief Dan Musselman who provided a PowerPoint presentation that covered the following: DISCUSSION OUTLINE 29.4% VACANCY RATE SINCE 2013 THE 43 OFFICERS WE LOST DEMOGRAPHICS AFFECTING RETENTION STAFF REDUCTIONS Councilmember Oravits pointed out that 60% of the officers have less than two years of experience and he asked how that compared with the rest of the state. Chief Treadway stated that it illustrates that Flagstaff has a young department. He added that most every law enforcement agency is experiencing some turnover; it is just that Flagstaff’s turnover is much more than others. Councilmember Putzova asked why the hiring process and recruitment is targeting new graduates. Chief Treadway stated that the biggest problem is with retention but recruitment has also changed. Flagstaff tests every six weeks with around 20 applicants. Typically 50% will fail and then of that 50% will fail the physical and then 50% of the remaining will fail the background process. Of the initial 20 that were brought in for testing there are only two or three potential hires; that is very different in the valley because they have approximately 1100 applicants for six positions. The candidate pool is much larger to choose from in the valley. Mayor Nabours asked about hiring already trained police officers that can transfer from another agency. Chief Treadway stated that agencies love to hire laterals as they get an experienced employee that is already certified and they can go directly into field training. At Flagstaff’s current salary rate there are not many lateral applicants. For example the department just picked up its first lateral in two years from Prescott. There were a few officers that attended training in the valley and they thought that they had a good lateral recruit for Flagstaff however, when he inquired about pay he discovered about a $20,000 cut in pay. Councilmember Putzova suggested using a more targeted approach such as a recruitment firm to find officers. There are costs associated with this kind of recruitment but with the training and retention issues it may be beneficial. Chief Treadway noted that the Police Department has worked extremely hard on its recruitment process. The biggest issue is retention; while it would be nice to increase the applicant pool there are officers leaving Flagstaff on a consistent basis. The most success has come from the home grown applicants who have an ingrown stake in the community. Councilmember Evans added that the officers that do come to Flagstaff as a lateral officer most times take a reduction in pay and that significantly affects their retirement benefits. Chief Treadway noted that it works in reverse as well because officers want to increase their retirement benefits so they are looking to communities with a higher pay scale. Councilmember Putzova stated that while she understands the retention issues she would like to focus more on hiring officers that are in a place in their life that they are most likely to stick with Flagstaff. Chief Treadway stated that these attributes are factored into the interview process but those applicants are few and far between. Chief Treadway stated that he does personally speak with each interviewee to discuss what they can expect in Flagstaff in regards to the high cost of living and housing. The department does its best to not hire anyone who cannot assure them that they want to stay in Flagstaff. Deputy Chief Musselman continued the presentation. WORKLOAD OVERVIEW MARKET DRIVEN INDUSTRY MARKET COMPARISON IN PATROL SCOTTSDALE ARTICLE/COMPARISON SCOTTSDALE ARTICLE/COMPARISON OF PAY INCREASES/DECREASES Councilmember Putzova asked the ratio of police officers to population in Flagstaff. Chief Treadway explained that historically in Flagstaff there have been approximately 1.7 officers per 1000 citizens and the Arizona average is 2.0 per 1000 and nationally it is 2.4 per 1000. Councilmember Putzova requested this information for other Arizona municipalities. Councilmember Overton asked how the cities listed in the article provided for the pay increases. Chief Treadway stated that many valley cities have strong unions and agreements were put into place for the increases. Deputy Chief Musselman continued the presentation. AGENCY PAY COMPARISON Chief Treadway added that the proposed budget does help the Department and it is a step in the right direction but Flagstaff is still at the tail end of other agencies in terms of pay. There has been no movement for existing officers since 2009 when merit increases were eliminated. It is taking a lot longer for officers to max out on their pay plans. There are other agencies in the state that have guaranteed pay steps. Flagstaff lost an officer to Buckeye and he has reported that he has received a 17% increase in pay over three years; this is the same situation with the Department of Public Safety who gives a healthy increase at six years of service and the officers get to stay in Flagstaff which is lucrative to lateral officers. Deputy Chief Musselman continued the presentation. SNAPSHOTS FROM 23 OFFICERS' EXIT INTERVIEWS 2014-2015 THEMES FROM EMPLOYEE SURVEYS DISPATCH STAFFING OVERVIEW DISPATCH CHALLENGES Chief Treadway stated that staff recently contacted the City of Chandler and got some interesting numbers from them. Over the last two or three years Chandler has lost seven dispatch employees. They pay really well. The biggest issue is that there are many jobs that are similar that do not have the stress and shift schedules. There are significant recruitment and retention issues with regards to dispatch as well. The City Manager’s budget proposal includes some funding to develop a strategies to retain dispatch employees. Deputy Chief Musselman added that the department sends people to a dispatch academy to get baseline training and certifications and they are working on the dispatch program to make it less stressful but effective. Vice Mayor Barotz asked if the cost burden for the dispatch center fall fully on the City for funding. Chief Treadway stated that Flagstaff has a regional dispatch center that dispatches for Flagstaff Fire Department, Flagstaff Police Department, Coconino County Sherriff’s Office and several private fire agencies as well as other federal programs. Each of those agencies is billed on a cost per call basis; this is a great arrangement and it assists the City in spreading the high costs for services to other agencies. Deputy Chief Musselman continued the presentation. MARKET COMPARISON DISPATCH DISPATCH SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL PAY HIRING AND RETENTION EFFORTS RETENTION EFFORTS SUPPORTED BY COUNCIL FY2016 CM RECOMMENDATIONS Chief Treadway completed the presentation. WILL IT HELP? RECAP A break was held from 9:16 a.m. through 9:26 a.m. Mayor Nabours stated that the cost of hiring and training new people is so expensive that there is little to nothing left in the budget to address retention. Chief Treadway agreed stating that the Police Department overtime is significantly attributed to new officer training and having to stay late. It is about a year after the training is complete that the officers are running at full speed and there are a lot of silent costs not even brought forward in that $53,000 budget number. Councilmember Oravits asked about the housing program that was mentioned and if it is something that is being explored. Deputy Chief Musselman stated that the Police Department has been working with the Housing Department to propose a program; it is currently out for bid. Councilmember Putzova asked about the housing situation for most of the police officers. Chief Treadway stated that it is all over the board. The Department lost one of its female officers to Gilbert and she stated that her husband is a cook who came to Flagstaff in hopes of finding a job and in the three years they were here her husband could not find work. Gilbert hired her at $4 an hour less with a reduced benefits package; while she hated leaving Flagstaff she wanted to find her daughter a bedroom of her own. There are many officers who live with each other, too. Councilmember Putzova asked if the housing situation was to the officer’s satisfaction if the pay and benefits they receive be enough to keep them in Flagstaff. Chief Treadway stated that they are not seeing that based on the exit interviews, the number one reason people leave is the pay and benefits and housing was around number three. Councilmember Putzova asked if there has been a focus group to probe a little bit more to understand the pay on its own. Chief Treadway stated that there has not been a focus group but an in depth conversation is had with every employee who is leaving to understand their reasons. This helps the department identify areas of needed improvement. Additionally, all potential new employees are talked to about the high cost of living and they are urged to look carefully at the market before committing to take the job and live in Flagstaff. Councilmember Overton stated that in an ideal world the Police Department would have enough recruits to fill its needs and reduce overtime; he asked if there would be a net effect on existing officers when overtime is reduced and if it would be seen as a detriment. Chief Treadway stated that the department has been very fortunate in the last few years to be successful with grant awards that cover overtime for various activities. It has been difficult to get officers to sign up for these additional projects because they are already working significant overtime. If the overtime for calls for service is reduced there is ample opportunity to get overtime through the other grant funded programs if officers would like the additional overtime. Councilmember Evans stated that the main issue with the officers and dispatchers is pay and benefits; she asked if it would be helpful to employees if housing was included. Chief Treadway stated that he is unable to answer that because housing has never been included. The housing program is exciting but it is for first time home buyers and the match is up to $5000. It is a difficult answer but pay consistently rises to the top. Mayor Nabours asked what the housing program would look like. Councilmember Evans stated that a more robust program is needed. She would like to have a roundtable discussion with other agencies that are having struggles with housing to develop a housing program for employees. Mayor Nabours asked for the average hourly wage of police officers. Human Resources Director Shannon Anderson stated that the starting salary of a police officer is $22.91 per hour; they are hired in at 5% less while they are in academy and once complete they are increased to 2.5% less until field training is complete. Councilmember Putzova stated that if pay was addressed at the midpoint, Flagstaff is about $5,000 below annually. Officers are thinking about discretionary funds after expenses are paid. The stated problem is actually a perceived problem. The City may be able to make incremental improvements in pay but the differences in the housing markets will remain. The key is creating an environment for officers that feel similar to areas that have a lower cost of living and a strategic solution is to get together and consider the housing issue in Flagstaff. There are other employers that are in similar situations so there are opportunities to partner. Councilmember Brewster stated that several weeks ago she suggested that a discussion with the City, NAU, Gore, and Purina is needed to identify possible solutions to the housing issue. No one agency can solve the problem alone so if everyone can get together to find a solution where agencies can help out incrementally it would help those in the middle range that are not able to qualify for Section 8 but are still struggling to find affordable housing. Councilmember Overton suggested that those discussions typically do not get off the ground. He stated that the data suggests that employees are not moving as quickly within the pay plan as they are with other agencies. Employees look at their hourly rate and what they bring home and the cost of insurance. At the end of the day it is the employees discretion how they spend their money. He does not feel that the solution is a housing program. Councilmember Oravits stated that the housing discussion is a separate issue. The issue is pay and starting an officer at $4,000 or $5,000 more is helpful and helps keep them in the community. Councilmember Evans stated that there is no way that Flagstaff can compete with straight salary from other communities and looking at alternatives to the benefit package would help even the playing field; if housing was out of the equation that would be a boost to police salaries. Vice Mayor Barotz stated that at this time it is difficult to continue the conversation without looking at the full budget. She added that she would be in support of having a conversation about the collective housing problem and get the perspective of other employers about solutions. Mayor Nabours asked Police Communications Manager Irene Hunkler to give a description of the typical dispatcher, the schedule they work, the shift work involved, and any other things involved with being a dispatcher. Ms. Hunkler explained that the shift work is two, ten hour shifts and two, twelve hour shifts and include overtime. The department is currently short eight employees and the staff is tired; they have accrued a lot of overtime and comp time. People call 911 on the worst day of their life and the staff is often the first and only contact between the community and first responder. The stress is real and complicated by the fact that there is no face to face communication. The job tends to draw females but there is one male on staff right now. Multi-tasking is an essential function of the dispatcher job. Dispatchers are often juggling multiple incidents at one time and a good number of the people that leave do so because they are unable to do that. Additionally, employees leave due to the shift work and others leave because they just realize that dispatch is not the job for them and they miss life events and holidays. Dispatchers are proud of the work they do and they practice all the time to be even better. Ms. Hunkler stated that the differential pay that is being proposed will be a big help in retaining employees. Mayor Nabours stated that Ms. Hunkler did some research on the 3% differential pay for swing shift and 5% differential pay for the overnight shift; he asked if the proposal is comparable to other cities. Ms. Hunkler explained that the proposed numbers actually came directly from other cities as an average of what is offered. Mayor Nabours asked how long it takes after hiring a new dispatcher before they are able to go live on their own. Ms. Hunkler stated that there are two phases of each component; two phases of non-emergency at two weeks each and two phases of dispatch at two weeks each. To have employees fully trained on every channel is one year. Mayor Nabours asked if the dispatchers volunteer for the overtime or if it is a required part of their job. Ms. Hunkler explained that there are minimum staffing levels to handle all of the radios; overtime hours are tracked for each employee and for the most part they volunteer for the extra shifts but if there are no volunteers an employee can be ordered to come in. Mayor Nabours asked about the rate of pay for Flagstaff dispatchers and how that compares with other cities. Deputy Chief Musselman stated that dispatchers start at $36,000 per year and that is 15% below market. Mr. Meilbeck stated that the Police Department is an excellent department and that the presentation was a fair representation of the challenges they are facing. He noted that doing a round table to talk about a single department’s staffing and resource needs outside of the organization is a risk and that should be considered as the Council gives direction. The budget presentations that are next week will give a comprehensive look at the organization. There are things that can be done and have been recommended in the budget but the Council can also apply resources to additional needs that exist. Councilmember Oravits thanked staff for the thorough report and stated that he is comfortable with taking the risk of hosting a roundtable discussion about the Police Department. The City cannot keep losing 30% of its officers each year; the City has an obligation to compensate its Officers appropriately and he asked for a commitment from the Council to move forward and solve the problem at the budget meetings next week. Vice Mayor Barotz stated that she cannot make a commitment to anything without seeing the budget. She stated that there will be a lot of information presented and there will be important decisions to make. She wants to help solve the problem but it is important to look at everything in the budget as a whole. Mayor Nabours stated that he feels that the issue has come to a level of urgency and priority. Councilmember Evans stated that she supports the Police Department but to state that the Council is going to directly impact and get the department to the funding level needed for the officers is not realistic. She also supports the other City departments and employees and would like to look at what the Council can do to impact the salary and benefits package for all employees. Councilmember Brewster offered that public safety is a priority in the community. She thanked the Chief and Deputy Chief for the work they put into preparing and presenting the report. It is helpful to see the comparison of Flagstaff to other communities and agencies in the state. Councilmember Putzova thanked staff for their presentation. She stated that Council is committed to improving employees. She urged Council to consider all of the tools available to make changes and forward progress with the budget. She stated that she is interested in seeing a long term, multi-year plan established to address employee compensation. |
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4. | Adjournment | ||||||
The Special Work Session of April 17, 2015, adjourned at 10:17 a.m. |
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