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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-10-24 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee October 24, 2001 � Minutes Councilor Attendance: Farnham, Baldacci, Blanchette, Palmer StafF Attendance: Barrett, Farrar, Chalila, Comeau, Enman, Heitmann Others: JefF Tuttle, Hal Wheeler, Steve Eggleton 1. Council Ordinance 01-405 Amending Section 137-27 of the Ordinances of the City of Bangor Mary-Anne Chalila, Director of Health and Welfare, reviewed the recommended assistance levels. Blanchette stressed that these are mandated by the State. The Committee recommended Council approval of this ordinance, which is the annual update of the maximum levels of assistance allowed under the current General Assistance Law. 2. Council Ordinance 01-406 Amending Section 134-28-E of the Ordinances of the City of Bangor Chalila indicated The Health and Welfare Department spends $6-7,000 annually for this service. Palmer asked about the process as well as the possibly of cremation. • Chalila said it is basically for an indigent person who passes away in Bangor and has no way of paying for funeral costs and no responsible relatives (children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings related by blood who reside in or own property in Maine) who are capable of paying. These relatives make an application to see if they are capable of paying in full or in part for the funeral. If the relatives do not complete an application, it is denied and then the funeral directors are left with the expense. Under State Statute, if a person dies without a will or next of kin, the County Administrator is responsible for processing the estate with an appointed personal representative. The State Statute does not cover the indigent. Cremation is encouraged. The Committee recommended Council approval of this ordinance, which increases the maximum amount paid to cemeteries for opening and closing a grave of indigent persons from $150 to $225. 3. Establishment of Golf Course Rates at Bangor Municipal Golf Course for 2002 Season Comeau indicated that last year the rates were raised for the current year and that increase was the first increase in a three-year period. Rates are competitive with the area, and the Course is doing quite well. Staff's recommendation is that the rates • remain the same for 2002. Comeau expressed concern about the non-residents that are paying resident membership fees. StafF felt that residents should mean residents, and, if someone owns real estate in Bangor but are not residents, they shoiald pay the non-resident fee. The Committee recommended stafF's recommendation on the rates remaining the same and policy for non-resident and resident membership fees. Farnham said that � - Councilor Tremble had called her indicating his support of the recommendation. 4. Proposed License Agreements with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP� Heitmann indicated the agreement will cover events at Bass Park or music played at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, as an example. Barrett said that this does not cover the music on the government channel, which uses non-generic music. The City purchases the disk and has the right to use it. The proposed agreement would allow the City of Bangor the right to perform or allowed to be performed, the copyrighted works of its clients — approximately eight million songs, titles and words. The annual $250 fee is based on the municipality's population. The proposed agreement was prepared by the International Municipal Lawyers Association, to which the City belongs. Hal Wheeler presented a note to the Committee indicating that the rulings of several courts indicate that the determining factor of the liability is whether the performance is for profit or as an incentive for patronage of a commercial establishment; i.e, restaurants, bars. Wheeler has dealt with this issue as a member of the Federation of Musicians. � The Committee approved staff's recommendation to enter into the license � agreement with the ASCAP. The item will require full Council approval. 5. Domestic Partner Benefits Several Councilors have expressed an interest in discussing the possibility of extending certain benefits to domestic partners of City employees. Farnham indicated the item was on the agenda to allow for an introductory and preliminary discussion to provide staff with guidance on the issue. Farrar discussed the various implications of the domestic partner benefit concept and reviewed the following: ■ Potential areas of coverage. Farrar and Heitmann identified four areas that could be covered under a domestic partner provision: health insurance, dental insurance, sick leave, bereavement leave. The City's current group health insurance carrier, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, does provide for domestic partner coverage. Should the Council approve this coverage, there would be an open enrollment period similar to the regular one in June of each year. Employees would complete an affidavit and then become enrolled. There will be no increase in premiums for this • additional benefit. Farrar had previously been asked about whether other health insurance carriers provided domestic partner benefits. There has been recent legislation passed that mandates that all group carriers provide domestic partner coverage efFective ]anuary 1, 2002. Dependents of domestic partners would be covered as long as current conditions contained with the affidavit were met; i.e., a parent-child relationship exists, the child is • primarily dependent on the employee, the child is under the age of 18 and unmarried; a child in the 23-25 age bracket who is a fulltime student and at least 50% dependent upon the employee for financial support; the employee assumes full responsibility and control including all debts of the domestic partner children or a court appointed relationship exists. At this point, the City has not received any specific requests for domestic partner coverage. Regarding dental insurance, Delta Dental does ofFer domestic partner coverage. This is a fully employee paid benefit so no cost would be incurred by the City. Regarding sick leave, there are not complete records on use of family sick leave. Farrar determined that on average, employees use less than one day a year to attend to family members and felt that potential use for domestic partner family sick would be in the same amount. Regarding bereavement sick leave, Farrar determined the amount of hours and days of bereavement used a year. Based upon 490 employees, the average for each� employee is 2�h hours per year. ■ Costs associated with extension of domestic partner benefits. The cost increase for the City in the area of health insurance to move from single coverage to either two person or family is approximately $3,800/annually per � participant. There would be no City costs relating to the dental insurance. Regarding sick leave, if there were 10 domestic partners the cost per day would be $130/day or $1,300/annually. The cost for bereavement would be $400. � Assuming 10 domestic partners, the potential financial implication for the City is in the range of about $40,000. Baldacci indicated the School Department currently has the domestic partner provisions. He asked if information could be obtained from the School Department regarding their financial implications from the provision. Farrar indicated there are currently 3 School Department employees with domestic partner coverage at an estimated cost of $12,000.. The City of Portland has 1,000 employees and 32 with the domestic partner coverage. ■ Revisions to Personnel Rules and Regulations. These regulations for non- union employees will have to be revised to include domestic partner language as well as information on cost sharing. ■ Collective Bargaining Agreement Impact. The City has li labor contracts with a variety of unions and a variety of work settings. The City does not have the unilateral right to make these sorts of changes, and is required to . meet, discuss and bargain over any changes in terms and conditions of employment. Farrar felt it would be generally be considered as a positive step by the Unions as the City would be ofFering additional benefits. ■ Consideration of nepotism policy impiicafiions. This City poiicy predudes relatives of an existing employee working in the same department or division. The City Solicitar feels the nepotism policy should be amended to include � domestic partner. ■ Finally, the timir►g of proposed changes should be considered in light of the upcoming election and new individuals on the Council. Farrar also discussed the issue of benefits for part-time emplayees. A� the momentr the City does not provide benefiits for part-time emplayees. He urged the Council to proceed with caution in the domestic partner area because it will open up a line of questions regarding part-time emplayee benefits. Blanchette asked if Farrar had checked with other municipali�ies regarding benefits for part-timers. He had not checiced but did knaw that same municipalities are praviding a pra-rated fringe benefit packet based an a certain number af hours worked. She felt the City should review its personnel policy to be more effective ta attract and retain qualified individuals. Steve Eggleton, 200 7�' Street, expressed concerns about the damestic partner issue. He didn't feel it was the place of City gavernment to indicate its support of this type of lifiestyle. He also is concerned with the increased cast�o the taxpayer. He did not agree with subsidizing a lifestyle tha� he doesn't agree is helpful to society. Hal Wheeler, 315 Silver Road, doesn't think the City needs to look for any more � ' � ways to spend fiaxpayer dollars regardless af social, moral, ar philosaphiea! issues. �' � Baldacci agreed with Blanchette's suggestion that the City needs ta focus on adjusting City benefits to attract and retain gaod employees. He suggested �arrar initiate a review process during the next six months ta eoincide with the budget review ; process and talk with employees �particularly part-time employees) in terms af benefit ! issues. The review wi11 cover domestic partner benefits, benef�ts for par�-time employees, and families with children. Palmer was surprised �hat the School Department already offers the benefits and would like to know the motivation far that process. He also suggested surveying some of thase who have accepted the benefits, their rationaie, and did it assist them in retaining their pasition. Faimer agreed with a longer term, measured approach. Blanchette felt the new mayor should assign this to a Committee. She felt there needs to be citizen inpu� as weli as it wi(i be �heir dol(ars that will be used. Blanchette made a motion that the item be rnoved to the Gavernment Operations Committee`s second meeting in November for further discussion and review. The motian was seconded and so voted. Wl�h no further business to come before the Committee, the meeting was adjourned at b:15 p,m. �