2008 0320 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting March 20, 2008 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida into three (3) groupings: Group One Policies have an immediate financial impact in addition to or in lieu of an employees regular salary, some of the payouts are positive like payouts for accrued vacation and sick leave, and some are not so positive like unemployment compensation and severance pay; Group Two Policies pertain primarily to a slate of employee benefits like retirement, insurance and vacation; Group Three Policies are non- economic and pertain to the general operations of the City from the personnel organizational perspective. He said in addition to those Policies, he had received some comments from the Commission and he incorporated them in his standard letter that he writes and distributes on the day of the Commission meeting, and he noted the following additions/clarifications: Layoff and Recall, Policy 216.1 - Paragraph 4 (d) will be modified to reflect that fulltime employee's would be laid off last, based on their demonstrated ability to perform available work, and length of service. He noted that both of these criterians carry equal weight. Transfer, Policy 211.1 - Paragraph 8C will be modified to indicate that the City Manager will review an employee's salary in a temporary position every three months to determine if further increases and compensation are warranted. He said the policy right now states if someone is temporarily assigned to a promotional capacity they would get a 10% increase but if that temporary assignment lasts for more than three (3) months, he would have the authority to look at that again to see if further pay is warranted. Severance Pay Policy 304.1- Has any exempt management employee ever received severance pay? If so, how much? He said that his philosophy is that he would not grant more than six months severance pay, and noted that severance pay for non-senior management level exempt employees, as well as non-exempt employees, is outlined in paragraph 5, which is essentially one week of regular straight time pay for each year of continuous service. He said that he has been advised that four (4) previous exempt management employees received severance pay since we became a City, and in each case that amount was three (3) months, however, the Policy indicates a minimum and not a maximum for severance pay that the City Manager can distribute, and he would like to indicate that there should also be a maximum of six (6) months. He said essentially that Policy would be modified to reflect a severance pay up to 6 months depending upon circumstances as determined by the City Manager for exempt management employees only, as non-management employees would receive, if applicable, severance pay that would be equal to one (1) week of pay for each year of service. Travel on City Business 401.1- Assure all forms on page 5 of5 are submitted, and current, and in addition, include a copy of the Ordinance Governing Expenses for Charter Positions. He said he has asked Assistant City Manager Doug Haag and Human Resources Director Tom Acquaro to submit all the necessary forms which will include the ordinance which governs expenses for Charter positions into this policy booklet. Vacations, Policy 504.1 - Paragraph 13 will be changed to indicate that employees have until January 15th of each year to use vacation time that might otherwise be lost, and the City Manager has authority to make exceptions. He said it was also brought to his attention that currently no employees are here longer than 10 Y2 years, our maximum vacation time is 20 14