09/16/1997 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/16/97 2) The second case, involving the police officer, occurred when a citizen, calling from a car phone, reported that his car had been tapped by a hit-skip driver in a parking lot in the vicinity of Claque Road. The citizen was following the car and announced that it was heading into Westlake. The police officer, who was under orders not to pursue unless given the authority to do so, was traveling down Dover Center Road at approximately 45 to 50 miles per hour, went left of center and ricocheted off of a car making a left hand turn and smashed into a pole and destroyed the police car. At issue was the question, even though he had violated five departmental rules and was disciplined and injured, could he receive valor pay. The arbitrator commented that the issue went further than the interpretation that a person is entitled to valor pay just because of injury. He stated that Article XIV, Section 2 of the collective bargaining agreement specifies that the injury being considered must stem from a sudden and accidental occurrence defined as incidents involving automobile accidents, assaults, gunshot wounds. The history of this Article involves an award when the incident results from extraordinary circumstances. It was not intended to apply to everyday automobile accidents, which may be a worker's compensation issue. He further stated that the Safety Director is given case-by-case discretion within the language of the collective bargaining agreement regarding the authorization of such sick leave. This discretion is particularly important in this case since it was determined that the patrolman violated several departmental policies which contributed to his accident. The arbitrator concluded that he believed the Article involves awarding uncharged sick leave for valorous, extraordinary behavior and it would be inconsistent with the contract to award this leave for an incident which occurred under a cloud of departmental violations. He denied the grievance. The Law Director feels that this decision straightens out the issue of valor pay in the case of accidents not involving extraordinary actions. Also, it is now clear that the Safety Director is vested with the authority to make the decision to grant valor pay. 3) The unfair labor practice filed by the Fire Department regarding the wearing of uniforms during training sessions has been dismissed by the State Employee Relations Board. The Board said that the Chief and officers had the authority to order individuals to wear their uniforms and it did not impact significantly on wages and conditions of employment. 4) Regarding the Mayor's report on the decreased premiums for general liability insurance, he feels that the Law Department has contributed to this because they have been very active in insurance defense cases. In the long run, if you look at the history of awards against the city, there have been very few and far between. Mayor Boyle added that some years ago the Law Department helped to get the city's policies rewritten so that the insurance companies attorneys' fees do not come out of the city's deductible. Finance Director Burns: 1) The post-audit conference will be held at 9 a.m. on Friday, September 19. Council members have received invitations to attend and were also provided with a draft of the internal control and compliance letters. 2) As a result of a call from an Olmsted Township resident whose home is in our sewer district and who is not being charged a sewer fee, we have begun the process of compiling a list of streets in the Township covered by North Olmsted's sewer district. This list will ~:. 3