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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-10-22 Municipal Operations Committee MinutesMunicipal Operations Committee October 22, 1996 Minutes Councilors Present: David Leen, Pat Blanchette, Jim Tyler Staff Present: Ed Barrett, Bob Farrar, Joe Sewell Several city employees 1 Council Resolve tion of Funds far mho Huw° Committee recommended approval. 2. Ree gmenzataone_Recommendacionm Staff has had a chance to review the report put together by BACTS and Tom Cricklair regarding The Bus system. Don Cooper from BACTS was present to discuss three areas: route maps and booths, monthly pass program, and bus stop signage. A survey was performed by BACTS with results indicating improvements in the following areas: --existing schedule is difficult to understand and study recommends a redesigned schedule with a color. coordinated route maps. - --implementation of monthly pass system. The study recommends introduction of amonthly pass into The Bus program to be promoted by one of several options: by direct mail promotion with cost associated perhaps piggyback with an existing business mailing already in the Bangor area, Promotional signs in the busses and shelter; possible 3 second radio ads. in addition, there is the issue of bus atop signs for those not familiar with routes or are Biting the area. Committee discussed the placement of bus signs at the bus stop locations or placing them at major stop locations. Committee discussed cost implication information relating to mounting signs to utility poles. Production and erection of bus stop signs are approximately $90/each. Local share would approximate $3,000; Bangor's share would be 60%. Tyler questioned monthly pass system due to holidays, sick tiMwB, etc. when passes would not be used and asked about a debit card system. .Passengers would buy a certain dollar -- amount of tickets, pass their card through a machine on the bus which would indicate approval by light. This system would be easier for bus drivers. Debit cards are progransuable to adapt to pricing structure. Councilor Tyler felt it might be worth a couple of phone calls to check into such a system. Blanchette talked about passes being dated and not valid after a certain date, whether the pass has been used one time or thirty times. Barrett said the City offers a five - ride discount ticket ($3.00) which gives people a choice of buying a monthly pass or the five-day ticket. It gives people an economic determination. Bus drivers know 90% of the people and would know who has a pass. Tyler indicated that the monthly pass system to him seems like it would be abused and it seems to be a nuisance. Blanchette talked about radio ads and the approximate $4,000 in credit from two local radio stations owed to the City. Radio ado are boring and offend people. We need to have ^jingle" and perhaps have an agency create one for The Bus. McNeil indicated that perhaps the station themselves could create something along this line. Leen indicated several Councilors bad expressed approval of sign placement on utility poles as opposed to regular sign poles. Barrett said they could be painted on poles. Tyler indicated that in the downtown area stop sign poles are used for other purposes. Signs will be color coded as well to map routes. Blanchette mentioned that the City used to have yellow stripe on utility poles indicating bus stops. Mrs. Whitehouse stressed importance of courteous bus drivers. She cited an incident of foreign visitors who had a problem with one of the has drivers as well as problems at Capehart with users who have to carry heavy bags of groceries and not having clarified bus stop sites. Tyler mentioned that we currently have a system that stops n demand and, if we encourage further ridership through advertising, we run the risk that you end up stopping so frequently that the route schedule is off. He suggested that at some point The Bus may have to switch to a fixed stop system as opposed to stopping on demand. Farrar indicated that by marking poles that riders will congregate at these locations. McNeil indicated that currently some bus signs have schedules mounted as well. Farrar indicated that if at this point the Committee is in general agreement with the approach mapped out, the staff Would prepare a Council Resolve to appropriate the maximum of $2991 and begin Working on the recommendations. Staff will come to Committee to discuss other major component of the study which is the actual delineation of the runs. Public meetings will be held to inform community of changes. 3. Q=iDURd RAN14W Of Revised Personnel Rules and Regalations. Committee discussed three outstanding issues relative the revised Personnel Rules and Regulations from their prior meeting: vacation schedule, compensatory time for exempt mmployees, and City Council/Council subcommittee involvement in employee grievance procedure. Regarding the 5th weak vacation, a survey showed that of the 10 largest private sector employers in the area, 6 of those did provide acme sort of vacation beyond four weeks. 8 0£ the 11 largest Public sector employers did offer additional vacation time. Reference was made to the survey summary provided in the agenda packet. Connie Strout, an Airport Department employee, added several comments regarding long term employees. She indicated that there are valuable, dedicated employees and that this would be one way for the City to recognize their loyalty to the City. Concerning compensatory time for employees exempt from the Pair Labor Standards Act (PLEA), the City Manager spoke i favor or establishing some level of compeneatoryiO time for these employees, many of whom routinely work considerable hours in excess of the normal work week. The Committee expressed concern that the proposal allowing accrual to 40 hours was too high and that employees would be able to accumulate 40 Mors and then take a week of vacation. Staff was asked to review these two concerns and report back to the Committee with further suggestions. Erik Stumpfel handed out information to the Committee regarding State Statutes and employee appeal processes. With respect to Police and Fire, they have an appeal to their Civil Service Commission. Blanchette stated that during the past year, there have been several grievances heard by the Municipal Operations Committees which have been time consuming with coat Implications. The employee has a right to appeal and cannot be denied the process, but it is difficult for councilors to devote the time required. She suggested a grievance appeal board for the grievance process beyond the City Manager, and suggested it be outside People. Lean agreed. Barrett agreed there needs to be an appeal process beyond that of the City Manager as technically, if there is n appeal beyond that of the City Manager, the Manager hoe to distance himself from the discipline which he doesn't feel comfortable doing. Be suggested the Manager needs to be involved earlier in the grievance process. Under court rulings, if the Manager is the final appeal, the Manager is automatically written out of the loop. The Manager needs to be aware of major discipline prior to it being administered. The Committee asked the City Solicitor to draft appropriate language to form an appeals board to incorporate into the revised Personnel Rules and Regulations. Stumpfel suggested it could be designed similar to the Zoning Board of Appeals to meet on a monthly basis to hear cases. The City Manager, speaking to employees who were in attendance, indicated that a rumor was going around that after the last Committee meeting that vacation days were being taken away from employees and that is not the case. He asked employees to clarify it within their respective departments. The proposal was to take two established holidays away and add two floating holidays. The Manager indicated that was the proposal but that the Municipal Operations Committee had decided to retain the established schedule of twelve holidays. Committee adjourned at 6:30 p.m.