W&P & PFC Minutes

Minutes of the Wage & Personnel committee and Police & Fire Commission meeting held on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order at 4:30 p.m. by Chairperson Schreiber.
2. Roll call: Al Schreiber, Jack Maas, Marlene Zahn, Jim Stiloski, John Wittkopf, Ron Hayes, Gene Berth, Tim Longsine and Jim Lacourciere. Absent: Steve Gering. Also present: Mayor Fulton, Atty. Jim Kalny and Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary.
3. Moved by Maas seconded by Zahn to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 9 ayes
4. No correspondence/public input.
5. The Committee and commission may vote to convene into Closed Session pursuant to notice duly given and as allowed by Wis. Stats. 18.85(c), (e) & (g) to meet with legal counsel, Atty. Kalny regarding negotiation strategy.
Moved Wittkopf seconded by Berth to convene into Closed Session at 4:31 p.m.
Motion carried upon verbal roll call vote. 9 ayes 1 absent

Closed Session

6. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Jim Stiloski to reconvene into Open Session at 4:48 p.m. pursuant to notice duly given and allowed by Wis. Stats. 19.85(2) for the remainder of the agenda.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 9 ayes

7. Discussion on draft revising disciplinary policy for the police manual; Atty. Kalny provided handouts and stated sometime ago this was brought to the PFC for some changes as recommended by the Police Chief; Atty. Kalny stated he would like the PFC to refer this to him to go over with the Police Chief; Atty. Kalny stated the citizen complaint procedure needs clarification…current form is intimidating; duty to report to commission is not clear; the draft of the changes on the disciplinary policy from the Police Chief does not dovetail with the current policies; suggestion taken that Atty. Chief and the Chief should meet on this to develop a clear policy on how complaints are handled and what role the PFC has regarding complaints; some areas to simplify leave the restatement that goes to the general procedures; include scheduling and pre-hearing conferences as determined by the PFC…list issues that should have PFC oversight and give authority to the President of legal counsel to act for the PFC in determining procedural issues;

Hayes directed Atty. Kalny to meet with Chief Carper regarding the disciplinary procedure and draft the proposed revision to dovetail with existing policies and also review the Citizens Form and bring these documents back to the PFC.

8. No action in open session regarding Police Union Contract.

5:08 p.m. PFC members were excused (Gene Berth, Tim Longsine and Jim Lacourciere)

9. Atty. Kalny stated the last meeting with the DPW unit we reached an agreement, they took that back to the union and they rejected the agreement; Teamster representative Beth Kirchman would like to re-open and see if the city would go with a 1% increase retroactive to 10/31/2009;
Discussion; inside teamster unit and fire union settled with no retroactive pay;
Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Maas to move to arbitration on the Street/Utility Union contract.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

10. Discussion on residency ordinance; Atty. Kalny stated this issue is raised because of the letter from the Director of Public Services (DPS) saying he is a resident of the city as relates to his employment because address on his paycheck; utility bill and DL all list the golf course as his address; he voted in the City; ran for local public office; his letter sites other union employees living outside the city limits; Atty. Kalny referenced our ordinance 2-3-15 residency requirement for executive employees; and ordinance 2-3-16 eligibility for office…no person shall be elected to a city office who is not at the time of his election an elector of the city, and in case of a ward office, of the work, and actually residing therein; Zahn questioned if 532 Jefferson Street has kitchen/cooking facilities and sleeping quarters? Jim Stiloski stated no kitchen facilities or sleeping…place has been watched; Atty. Kalny referenced motion from the 3/9/2010 meeting that Mr. Mommaerts physically move into the city; the letter from Mr. Mommaerts states that he has put his home up for sale…if the city wanted they could extend the period for residency; Wittkopf stated this has been done three or four times…has been going on for two or three years…we need to do something….or don’t…how long are we going to keep doing this? Atty. Kalny stated Mr. Mommaerts is not a for cause employee…he is an at leisure employee appointed by the council; Ron Hayes stated he has two other employee that fall under the residency ordinance the Fire Chief & Police Chief…hopes that the committee enforces the ordinance; Atty. Kalny stated per that motion from the March meeting, a letter should be sent to Mr. Mommaerts stated we will have to let you go effective 9/9/2010 and then a hearing would have to heard before the Council on this; Wittkopf questioned our ordinance giving 12 months for relocating for residency…will that come back to us? Maas stated the six months for Mr. Mommaerts was in the motion;

Moved by Maas seconded by Zahn to direct Atty. Kalny to send Mr. Mommaerts a letter regarding residency and his condition of hire on behalf of the Council.

Discussion. Wittkopf questioned what are the intentions of the Wage & Personnel…what are we going to do…go out and hire another engineer…will probably pay more; Maas stated we could contract with a firm; Jim Stiloski agreed with Wittkopf; Mayor stated this will put us in a bind…need to be proactive….could be shooting ourselves in the foot; Ron Hayes stated we don’t know what will happen until the letter is sent to Mr. Mommaerts; Mayor stated he understands the dynamics, realizing the issues…but stressed that we be careful with the letter, understanding that we have a deadline of 9/9/2010; Atty. Kalny stated the letter will state Mr. Mommaerts will need to establish a permanent residency in the City of Oconto; Schreiber stated part of the reason Mr. Mommaerts got rehired is we didn’t want to be sitting here without an engineer…had projects on the table…still have nothing on Brazeau…this years work is not started…what have we gained….residency is a requirement.

Zahn called for the question.

Motion to direct Atty. Kalny to send a letter to Mr. Mommaerts on behalf of the Council.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes 1 no – Wittkopf

5:33 p.m. Atty. Kalny left meeting.

11. Discussion on salary ordinance for elected and non union officials; Draft will be prepared; new position of webmaster will be added to salary ordinance; concern on tight budgets, why look at all positions for an increase; should put evaluations in process; Belongia stated she is working on a draft of an employee handbook which will be brought back to W&P for review and possible action….this was done many years ago and was tabled indefinitely at that time.

Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Wittkopf to recommend a 2% increase to all positions for the salary ordinance.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

Next agenda have assignment for city website.

Committee stressed need for monthly meetings.

12. Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Wittkopf to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 5:51 p.m.


Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia
Administrator