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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-01-30 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee January 30, 2002 � Minutes Councilor Attendance: Baldacci, Tremble, Allen, Farrington, Farnham, Palmer Staff Attendance: Barrett, Farrar, Cammack, Winslow, Welch, McNeil, Comeau, Hodges, Heitmann Others: Kevin Frazier 1. Review of Emergency Preparedness Plans This item appeared at the request of Committee Chair Baldacci. Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Jeff Cammack, Police Chief Don Winslow, and Lieutenant Bob Welch briefed the Committee on the City's Emergency Management plans, including coordination efforts with other related agencies in the greater Bangor area. Lt. Welch serves as the current Chair of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) which is very involved in emergency preparedness planning and response. Following the September iit" event and anthrax scares, Cammack indicated that he and Winslow met with the Hazmat Chiefs in the State and decided that locally some criteria needed to be developed for use by dispatchers. A tool was needed • for dispatchers to screen 911 calls concerning anthrax scares. An assessment sheet was developed by the Police Department which was used to assess whether or not the Hazmat needed to be called to the scene. When the Fire Department was called for response, these personnel used the same assessment sheet for their investigation to determine if the Fire Department could handle it internally or whether the Hazmat team was needed. Hazardous materials responses have changed throughout the state. The Bureau of Labor Standards govern these responses and had always ruled that when an unknown substance was found that the Hazmat team needed to response, which is a timely and costly process. The Hazmat team has had regular meetings with the Maine Emergency Management and Bureau of Labor Standards to loosen the standards. The problem was that industry was responding to calls and industry is governed by OSHA. Therefore, the Hazmat team was dealing with a state and a federal agency that are both governed by different rules. Industry wanted to be part of the team but didn't want to be accountable to OSHA if the levels of response were downgraded. After a month of ineetings, industry was allowed to relax their standards. Over 400 cases of possible anthrax were sent to the lab for testing and no anthrax was found in Maine. Relating to the possible anthrax scares, the Police Department experienced cost increases with officers taking packages to Augusta and the Fire Department experienced cost increases in the area of disposable products and fire personnel testing for breathing apparatus. Two years ago, the Department of Justice released monies for the weapons of � mass destruction, and the $1.4M is now in the hands of the Maine Emergency Management Agency. There has been discussion on how to equitably distribute the funds in Maine. There are 16 active HazMat teams in the state, 12 are in industry (paper companies). Industry has been very helpful in assisting Maine municipalities to deal with anthrax situations. The HazMat teams attempted to persuade MEMA to release $50,000 to purchase the necessary disposable items, � but the teams were not successful their request. State Planning, MEMA and the Department of Defense have a meeting scheduled to assess the HazMat teams and to decide how much money each area will receive. Maine hospitals formed a committee and were asked to review their readiness in dealing with a possible anthrax incident. The HazMat teams are working with hospitals in handling a mass decontamination of thousands of people. Councilor Tremble asked about the County's involvement and the Fire Chief indicated the County would be added to the response procedure. Councilor Palmer asked if the Auditorium could be a site location such as with the Swine Flu epidemic. Councilor Allen asked if Bangor would be a backup responder to other communities. Chief Winslow said he would provide support in the form of the Department's Bomb Team and immediate assistance from on-duty personnel. The municipality where the incident occurred would be in charge and Bangor would assist only. The Fire Department has mutual aid agreements in place as well. Allen also asked if one hospital has been designated for decontamination and assessments. Cammack indicated it is something the hospitals need to work out among themselves. Both Bangor hospitals have a decontamination room. Councilor Baldacci asked about the formal committee in Penobscot County, and Cammack indicated that Lt. Welch of Bangor Police is the current chair. Baldacci asked if there were any gaps in the working of the committee. Bangor Fire has 20 employees who are trained in hazardous materials technician level. Barrett said � that Cammack is the City's designated Emergency Management Director. The Police Chief referenced the Airport Master Plan which includes Bangor's mass casualty plan. An emergency drill is conducted each year at BIA with all emergency services, hospital personnel and Airport personnel. Barrett indicated the City's plan worked well in the 1998 ice storm. Winslow indicated that white powder incidents have dropped off at this point. Shortly after September 11t", his Department was traveling to Augusta 3-4 times weekly and handling 2-3 suspicious envelope calls. Protocol was developed with the Fire Department to balance public safety with a tendency to overreact. He discussed the positive relationship Bangor PD has with other local law enforcement agencies. With the exception of the State Police, most agencies participate in the annual 40 hour refresher courses held at Bangor PD. Policies are in place in the area of critical incident response and there are 8 mandatory policies that all police agencies are required to have in place and that have minimum standards. Winslow regularly meets with chiefs from Penobscot and Piscataquis Counties. Bangor participates in MEMA's disaster exercises at BIA. Every third year a full-blown exercise is required that focuses around the airport and of late the training has included weapons of mass destruction or biological agents. In the event of a disaster, Winslow indicated that the local agencies are on their own for the first twenty-four hours before Federal agencies step in to � assist. Bangor would receive assistance from State Police, Penobscot SherifF's Department, municipalities that have jurisdictional boundaries with Bangor, Maine Air National Guard and Bangor PD's off-duty personnel. Bangor has its own Bomb Squad, and there are only two in Maine. After September 11tn, Winslow had concerns about lack of communications with the FBI and indicated he was pleased that improvements have been implemented. US Attorney General � Ashcroft directed US Attorneys to develop a protocol for the dissemination of information and that has been completed. Winslow has also been appointed to the Anti-Terrorism Task Force, which is made up of Federal, State, military and local agencies. Bangor and Portland are the only two Maine communities represented on the Task Force because of their respective airports. Barrett said that staff has communicated to Maine Congressional Delegation that there is federal money available (pre-September iith) but it is not getting out to the local level. The Committee thanked staff for the update. There was no formal action necessary. 2. Consideration of City Council Meeting Startina Time Councilor Farnham previously requested a discussion concerning the starting time of the City Council meetings. City Solicitor Heitmann discussed his memo concerning this issue. Several other Councilors have expressed interest in this topic as well. A motion was made, seconded and voted to recommend changing the starting time of Council meetings to 7:00 pm and an Ordinance amendment will be prepared by staff. Baldacci felt that some of the items discussed at pre- meetings should be discussed at the Committee meeting level. Palmer also � recommended that Council review guidelines for the public comment section the Council meetings. 3. Proposed Amendment to Chapter 9�Article 1, Section 9-8(B) of the City of Ban�or Code, Standina Committees As the result of a recent interpretation by the City Solicitor, it was determined that when an absence occurred at a Standing Committee meeting, another Councilor could not fill in and vote, unless a quorum did not exist. Historically, when a Committee member has been absent, another Councilor would fill in, if possible, as a voting member of the Committee. The proposed amendment would allow a Council member(s) to temporarily serve at the Committee Meeting and vote, allowing the Committee to operate at its full compliment of inembers. This would also assist in avoiding potential tie votes, if one Committee member were absent. The Committee reviewed a copy of the proposed amendment is attached as well as the City Solicitor's interpretation of the current Code language. It was moved, seconded and voted to recommend this change to the City Clerk. The item will appear for first reading on the February iith Council agenda. 4. Consideration of Ex-Officio A�pointments to Bangor Nursing and Rehabilitation � Center Board of Directors Assistant City Manager Farrar reviewed this item with the Committee. A motion was made and seconded to recommend Councilor Allen and Finance Director Cyr � to serve as ex-officio members to the BNRC Board. 5. Ordinance, Amending Code of the City of Bangor, Chapter 291-40, �G-Resident Parking bkPermit Onlv Officer Hodges of Bangor PD reviewed this item with the Committee. Currently French Street between Cumberland Street and Garland Street is restricted to residential permit parking. This restriction was lifted through a sunset provision efFective November 1, 2001. A motion was made and seconded to recommend extension of the restriction for residential permit parking to a revised sunset date of November 1, 2003. 6. Consideration of Reaort on Fringe Benefits for Non-Union, Regular Part-time Employees Assistant City Manager Farrar provided the Committee with a detailed report, as requested from the Committee's November 2001 meeting. This arose out of the issue of domestic partner benefits and to whether the City should look at providing limited fringe benefits for regular part-time employees. The Committee had directed Farrar to prepare a report, to do a survey and to prepare some recommendations. Historically, the City has not offered non- . mandated fringe benefits to its part-time employees. The mandated benefits including retirement, workers'compensation, and unemployment compensation have been provided to part-timers while health insurance, sick leave, vacation time, holiday pay and others have not been provided. In order to remain competitive and attract and retain employees in a part-time status, the City needs to seriously look at this area. The Police Department, Parks and Recreation, and The Bus most utilize regular part-time employees. Increasingly, both private and public sectors are ofFering a limited benefit package to their regular, part-time employees. The most popular benefits offered were health insurance, vacation, sick and holiday pay. After speaking with other employers and the City's affected department heads, Farrar's conclusion was that the earned time-ofF concept which would encompass time off for vacation and holiday and sick time would work well for the City and not be an expensive proposition. Health insurance was not included because: 1) Staff was trying to create a benefit that everyone could benefit from. With the significant cost of health insurance, clearly all part-time employees would not be able to participate. 2) If employees did chose to participate in weeks where they didn't have sufficient hours to cover their deduction, the City has to collect the premium from the employee either by cash, or check, or a subsequent paycheck. Depending on the number of hours worked each week, an employee would earn a certain number of hours that the employee could take as earned time-off in a � paid status. An employee would have the opportunity to earn up to 10 days per year in the paid earned time off status. Currently, part-time employees would take time off without pay. The cost to the City is in the range of $20,000-25,000. In most of the situations, � the part-time City employee would not need to be replaced when taking days off. Clearly, with bus drivers there would need to be replacements. In Parks and Recreation, there are a few positions that would need to be replaced as well as a couple at the Airport and Fire Department. There are 65 employees who fall into the regular part-time classification many of whom would not need to be replaced when an earned time off day was used. The concept does encourage part- timers to work more hours as they would earn more paid time off. If the Committee endorsed the concept, staff's suggestion is to prepare an above current request for the suggested amount of $20,-25,000 to be included in the FY03 budget process. Potentially the program could be in place for July 1�. Palmer asked how the domestic partner piece fits into the concept. Farrar suggested that if Council wishes to consider the domestic partnership issue that Council direct staff to prepare another above current request in an estimated amount of $40-60,000. It represents $4,000 per participant, and staff estimates 10-15 employees might participate. Palmer indicated the benefit is currently offered to School Department employees. The City of Portland has 1,000 employees with 32 participating in the domestic partner benefits. Palmer asked if this information could be obtained when exit interviews are done with employees. � Farnham asked about seasonal employees who are too busy to take a day off under the earned time off concept. Farrar stressed that seasonal, temporary, project and on-call employees are not included in the definition of regular part- time employees. A regular part-time employee is one who is scheduled to work at least one day a week, 52 weeks per year. Allen asked if the part-time employees could be given the option of purchasing health insurance. Farrar indicated the cost for a family plan is $11,000 and the HMO $13,000. Allen also asked if there was a rapid turnover in the part-time positions. Farrar indicated there is both turnover and long-tenured part-timers. Farrar said it becomes expensive if the City were to go into a pro-rated basis as the City's pays the higher portion of the health insurance benefit to employees. McNeil indicated that some of his drivers are retired and looking to supplement their income and others are hoping to become fulltime employees. There are currently 23 bus employees and McNeil recruits 3-4 annually. Farrington asked about the chart that indicated the number of hours worked and number of hours in earned time off and why hours versus days was not part of the calculation. Farrar indicated that the hours were used instead of days as departments have different workday definitions. Tremble felt the report was well done and he concurred with Farrar's � recommendations. He then made a motion that was seconded to accept the report and move forward with the recommendation for the above current request for regular part-time benefits. Kevin Frazer, 30 Bryant Street, addressed the Committee. He referenced an . individual who works and who is a regular part-time employee working 52 weeks per year at Sawyer Arena. He urged the Council to consider health insurance in the area of domestic partner benefits. Baldacci expressed his support for universal health insurance coverage but felt at this point the City has fiscal constraints and should take this one step at a time. He encouraged future Councils to take it one step at a time and perhaps next year adding another piece to the benefit package. He fully supported the earned time off approach. Tremble made a motion that domestic partner benefits be further reviewed as a part of the budget process by the full Council. The motion was seconded. Farnham asked that is include all types of partners. Farrington indicated that this issue needs to be fully debated considering pros and cons. Baldacci commended Councilor Palmer for bringing this issue to the attention of the City. Farrar indicated the City could continue to look at providing health insurance in the future to part-time employees. Barrett said that health insurance is an area that will be a major problem for employers for years to come. Allen mentioned the University offers health insurance for students and wondered if the City could offer health insurance perhaps on two difFerent levels, two different plans to include all employees. Barrett said it would be easier to pay employees a set amount than to get into this due to union contracts. Farrar said that the ` employees covered by the earned time off benefit discussed here would be non- union employees. The Committee voted to have staff prepare an above current request for domestic partner benefits as part of the FY03 budget process. City Solicitor item gave the Councilor a copy of a Special Meeting notice scheduled for February 4�" at 5:00 p.m. regarding a General Electric lease agreement. The meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m. �