09/02/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/2/2008 7) The Crocker/Steams project: the last of the concrete is going down on the north side of the road at the intersection at Lorain. Landscaping will be completed this month which will finish the project at the intersection of Lorain and Stearns. 8) Posts are going up on the I-480 sound walls near Steams Road. This project along I-480 will be completed by the end of October according to current projections. 9) Regarding a legislative initiative defeated by City Council dealing with the proposed salary increases for non-bargaining clerical employees of the city, he is compelled to emphasize to Council the inequity created by failing to increase the salaries of non- bargaining clerical workers to the level of union clerical workers. This is both unfair and unprecedented. Never before in the history of the city has any Council elected not to maintain parity among all clerical staff within our city. He asks Council to reconsider its actions and to discuss this with him if they would be willing to work to correct what has become an injustice. Workers at City Hall, the Police Station, and the Fire Station have been overlooked. Each and everyone of them is a good person who contributes significantly to the service we provide to our citizens while making only moderate wages. He asks that Council simply to be fair to them. He would welcome calls and discussion. Councilman Ryan asked if the Mayor had chosen not to pursue the part of the legislation having to do with directors' salaries. Mayor O'Grady answered that an inequity does exist. But for people who make less money and who are farther down the salary range, the impact is far more significant. At this point, he has chosen to wait on the directors and will take that up with Council during budget sessions. Their salaries need to be corrected, but most importantly now it's the secretaries. If there's a majority of Council who would like to address the inequity that has been created for our clerical staff, he would very much like to bring that back. Councilman Ryan said it would be very helpful if we knew where we were going next year before we spend money this year. He believes that is the biggest concern. Mayor O'Grady said absolutely, and the fact that Council needs to understand is that it is the duty of his administration to bring Council a balanced budget. He will be bringing a balanced budget. He has four years of experience, and each year the administration has brought Council a balanced budget. With three of those four years, there were absolutely zero changes made. The administration has a record of doing the right thing and being fiscally responsible. In fact, awards from the State Auditor have been received. He has been taking steps over the last 3 % years as Mayor to reduce costs and to create better efficiencies. The administration will bring a balanced budget to Council in January. Councilman Gareau said he did not agree with the Mayor. He was one of the members of Council who voted not to grant amid-year pay increase for what he believes to be a non- mandatory situation. The bargaining unit did negotiate and were successful in their negotiations-and for that the chips fall where they do. But with respect to non- bargaining and the parity comment, parity over the course of the past 30 years in the city has created an enormous obligation on the part of the city. If you look at the parity by granting non-bargaining unit members each and every benefit that have been gained through collective bargaining with the bargaining units, that's how we end up with a $600,000 obligation. We have extraordinarily large numbers that we have to be able to pay someday. That is his rationale on this. He believes it is the Mayor's responsibility to 2