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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-07-14 Work Session Minutes Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org MINUTES OF WORK SESSION DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010 ___________________________ Present were Commissioners Dennis R. Luke, Tammy Baney and Alan Unger. Also present were Dave Kanner, County Administrator; Ken Hales, Community Justice; Chris Bell, County Counsel; a representative of the media and four other citizens. Chair Luke opened the meeting at 1:30 p.m. 1. Before the Boards was a Step 4 Grievance Hearing as requested by AFSCME Local 3997. Dave Kanner gave an overview of the grievance, which has to do with Juvenile Community Justice employee Corey Wallace’s layoff from the County. Because of the decline in funding and business, a pod was shut down in the Juvenile Community Justice Department, and five individuals consequently were laid off. Article 14 of the AFSCME contract lists seven factors to be used in the layoff process. Mr. Wallace was the fifth individual on the list. He grieved the layoff and has gone through three steps of the process. AFSCME filed a Step 4 grievance on his behalf, which is now before the Board. Kevin Hill, AFSCME union representative, stated that he wants to make it clear they are not disputing the need for the layoff, but he feels the lack of good faith in considering the relevant factors is at issue. They feel some things should be recalculated. They reviewed the nature of layoff language, and the goal is to leave the most skilled and most qualified people on the job. The process needs to somehow be able to differentiate when the job skills are very similar. If it is not to be based on seniority, there needs to be a common sense, good faith way to determine who is the most qualified person for the job. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Page 1 of 6 Pages Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Page 2 of 6 Pages He mentioned Article 14 language and distributed a copy of the page for reference. He also referred to management rights, Article 3, which allows for some flexibility. The County feels that as long as some consideration is given towards the seven factors, the layoff is appropriate. Language indicates that the decision ‘shall’ be made on this basis. Commissioner Baney said that she does not understand how he feels this was not applied. Mr. Hill stated that seniority will come into play if all other things are equal. There is a good faith standard in the application of the contract. Under layoff, it says that a good faith effort will be made to place the employee in another suitable position. He referred to the Preamble of the contract at this time, which he feels says that the best employees should remain in the event of a necessary layoff. Although the seven things in Article 14 are to be used to make a determination, in his view there are some particulars that are a problem. Credit should be given for college credits that are relevant to the work being performed. A post-secondary degree at the time of hiring is considered, but education after hiring should also be considered. In regard to experience, Mr. Wallace had a lot of on-call time. There is no more relevant experience than working with the clients. Commissioner Baney asked for the date of hire, not considering the on-call time. Mr. Wallace said it was March 2009, but he started on call in February 2007. Mr. Hill said the personnel manual does define on-call employees as not having regular hours. Regarding the evaluation period, there is a significant issue. He had been there for seven months. There was some concern that previous experience was not considered. The last issue is that of the training. Each employee in this matrix was given six points. By giving all of the people the same number of points, it does not take all into consideration. The skills also should be used in a day-to- day operation. All of the certifications are in the file. Mr. Kanner stated that the remedy requested was to recalculate the seven factors. He stated he asked some of the same questions and was satisfied with Ken Hale’s answers. The weight placed on each factor is subject to only minimal review. He feels they were made in good faith. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Page 3 of 6 Pages Ken Hales spoke about the training criteria. Part of what they had to do was to figure out how to put a value on something. There is no standardized way of doing some of this. He added that the contract is written so that to put in an order of layoff, they have to consider all issues in detail. The question would be how to variable the standard. They have to engage a process that is reliable and accountable. They cannot put value to six moths then nothing beyond that. Mr. Wallace said that Mr. Kanner and Mr. Hales spoke about this issue, and he is wondering what the results were. Mr. Kanner said his questions were basically about training and education. Mr. Hales stated that each was discussed carefully. They decided if something is reasonable and relates to the contract. They were to give a good faith effort in this regard. Commissioner Luke was advised who helped with this process. The scoring was done by supervisors who met with Personnel to examine every relevant file. Commissioner Baney stated that the largest category happens to be the training part. Mr. Hales stated that the point value is relative to the months of service. Commissioner Baney asked how important crossover training is. Mr. Hales said some of it is relatively straightforward, like doing an intake or working in the control room. Some things are not measurable or recordable, however. Commissioner Baney noted that perception is reality in some ways. She has an issue with one person being with the County since 2007 and another since 2005. Mr. Kanner stated that length of service is just one criterion of the seven. Mr. Kanner said the question is whether length of service is the only thing to consider. He said they try to be objective and total up the numbers. Mr. Wallace said that one person’s on-call evaluations were not used. His scoring was multiplied by three. If someone had a bad evaluation, it would have been multiplied by three. Mr. Wallace stated that his on-call evaluations were not considered. Mr. Hill recognized that this is a challenging process. If there are four points for a BA degree, and a written reprimand, each has an impact on points. They did not consider these. Mr. Hill stated much is left up to perception and not all was considered. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Page 4 of 6 Pages Mr. Wallace said that it would not have been hard to pull out his hours for the past. Mr. Hales said this was consistently done for all cases. Mr. Wallace said it does not refer to anything other than the last three performance evaluation. He has others in his file from before those. Mr. Kanner felt the process was followed as well as possible. Commissioner Luke asked if there are concerns about how others were, evaluated. Commissioner Unger said that they need to look at each category to make sure all are considered. Mr. Hill said they struggled with the ambiguous language, and how to come to a remedy without dictating terms and conditions regarding the value of each item. It is the purview of the County to decide what is relevant. They would like consideration given for previous years’ training and experience. The college degree should be relevant, even if it was prior to being hired. They feel that there should be some accounting for the on-call work. They would like to see the previous three evaluations considered as well, not just the latest ones. Mr. Kanner said that AFSCME is asserting that factors be determined in a certain way, and this would establish contract rights that do not exist at this time. This is not the time to establish those. The contract does not say that the County ‘should’ do certain things. It says that it ‘shall’. The contract does not say what weighting is appropriate. This is an attempt to create contractual rights through a grievance process. They did adhere to the contract. At no point has AFSCME indicated that the seven factors were not considered. Therefore, the grievance should be denied. Mr. Hales had nothing to add. Commissioner Unger does not want to second-guess this decision-making process. He did not hear that the County does not have discretion to weight the criteria. That should be part of the contract when it is negotiated again. He supports the decision. He suggested that with his experience, Mr. Wallace could look at a position in law enforcement or others. Commissioner Baney stated that the consideration of training is a factor. When people take on added training, they are bettering themselves, but she cannot differentiate between one employee and another and what that brings to the workplace. They have to be as cautious about considering training as they would with any other factor. It appears that the training was considered within a level playing field. She feels it was considered, but they opted to not take it in fully. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Page 5 of 6 Pages Commissioner Luke feels that the County acted fairly and the criteria was applied evenly across the board. He feels the college degree should be in a relevant area. Some courses are necessary, but college teaches people how to learn. While it is relevant in certain fields, in this case on the job training is more important. He does not feel that in some cases the degree is that relevant. The evaluations and being in on time is important. There have to be some limits and a standard to follow. Accounting for on-call does not apply to everyone. Not everyone has had that history, or perhaps he or she could have had similar work experience somewhere else. Commissioner Luke stated that in regard to relevant training, most seems to be done in-house for this position. Community Development inspectors are required to have a certain number of hours. If there is no standard set regarding the number of hours, it is hard to make a decision on that basis. He feels management did the best possible job, and he and will not support reversing the decision. Commissioner Baney said that in looking at the criteria, there is vague language. For the Board to try to make those changes outside of contract negotiations is not proper. There may be things that need to be remedied or clarified, but this is not the time to do that. She feels the decision was proper. BANEY: Move that the grievance be denied. UNGER: Second. VOTE: BANEY: Yes. UNGER: Yes. LUKE: Chair votes yes. 2. Update of Commissioners’ Meetings and Schedules. Commissioner Baney is meeting with Forest Service representatives tomorrow. Commissioner Unger stated that the State destination resort work group will be in the area on Friday to tour various locations. Commissioner Unger will be at a Forest Service water conference early next week.