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 find out what is happening in the surrounding areas and then come back on this, and City Manager Szerlag responded that he would be happy to do that. Mayor Edelcup said that we have to raise the questions tonight so that the City Manager can follow up on what we are questioning, and that is one of the areas that he can question. City Manager Szerlag said every time he proposes a change, he will be coming to the Commission at least annually for ratifications, and/or calibration of what he wants to submit. Mayor Edelcup said another area he wanted to question is related to floating holidays, as to how many floating holidays an employee has per year, ifthere is any differentiation between exempt and non-exempt employees, as it wasn't in the book, and Human Resources Director Tom Acquaro said for the management personnel it was through a Administrative Memorandum issued by the former City Manager. He said for the general employees it is two floating holidays, effective the first calendar year, and if they are hired after July they get half of that, and for exempt personnel, they get the two plus an additional five for attendance at these Commission meetings, and upon completion of five years, they get an additional three, and so after 5 years of service, an exempt employee will have ten floating holidays. City Manager Szerlag said he will include that memo in the Manual. Mayor Edelcup said that he thinks that is over generous with regular vacation time. City Manager Szerlag said he would review all the previous Management Memoranda and ifhe thinks it is applicable, he will incorporate it into the Policy Manual and bring it back to the Commission. Mayor Edelcup said to get their comments tonight and defer action on this until the City Manager finishes his research on their questions tonight, revise some of the areas that may need revision after his research, and then come back to the Commission with the amendments. Vice Mayor Thaler said he would like a breakdown by cities, much like the one done last month, and if staff can do the same thing in surrounding areas so that we are competitive and we don't have the same problem that we had with our Police Department, that way we won't put the City Manager at a disadvantage. Commissioner Scholl agreed with Vice Mayor Thaler that we use the same analysis as we did for the Police Department and that we look at our peer groups, we stratify it and show us a grid, compare it, and in the Police Department case it was management vs. rank and file, and in this case it is exempt vs. nonexempt, we want to see them side by side. Mayor Edelcup said it is our responsibility now to really look at all these things thoroughly as to what they are, what their financial impact is on the City, how we compare with other cities, and try to make an informed decision based on having as much of the facts that we can, and still be competitive but not necessarily number one. City Manager Szerlag asked for clarification if we should review only the items that the Commission is questioning tonight or the whole Policy, and Commissioner Scholl said basically the benefits package, lay it out and say here is our peer group analysis, here is where we stand exempt and nonexempt, and then make recommendations based on that as that is a lot easier for the Commission to interpret then looking at the Manual. Commissioner Brezin said when you break it down, and then get a total package of what that employee is receiving in terms of time, and Mayor Edelcup said in doing that you get the total package but then as has been suggested we compare that to our neighboring cities. 16