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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCIV 1982-07-20 Minutes MINUTES FOR THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CIVIL SERVICE CONL*IISSION JULY 20, 1982 AT 7:00 P.M. IN THE NORTH RICHLAND HILLS CITY HALL, 7301 N.E. LOOP 820 CALL TO ORDER Chairman Szol called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Members Present: Ed Szol Chairman George Pederson Bob Roark Others Present: Dick Fisher Councilman Dennis Horvath Assistant City Manager Greg Peacock Ron McKinney Civil Service Secretary Absent: Bob Skelton David Phelps APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Szol moved, seconded by Co~issioner Roark, OF JUNE 17, 1982 to approve the minutes of June 17, 1982 as written. The motion carried unanimously. ~ GRIEVANCE APPEAL Chairman Szol asked Mr. Peacock if he was represented HEARING CS-82-1, by Council. GREG PEACOCK Mr. Peacock said he was not represented by Council. Chairman Szol asked Mr. Peacock if he was aware that he is entitZed to representation if he desires. Mr. Peacock said he was. Chairman Szol stated that Dennis Horvath will represent the City. Commissioner Pederson read the Department Head's grounds for adverse action and the employee's summary of events leading up to the disciplinary action dated July 6, 1982. The Chairman asked Mr. Peacock if he received a copy of the Department Head's statement. Mr. Peacock stated he had. The Chairman explained the procedure to be followed for appeal hearings as provided in the Rules and Regulations of the City of North Richland Hills. CIVZL SERVICE MINUTES July 20, 1~82 ' Page 2 Chairman Szol asked Mr. Peacock and Mr. Horvath the names of their witnesses. Mr. Peacock said he would call Robert Salata. Mr. Horvath said he had no witnesses. Chairman Szol asked Mr. Peacock and Mr. Horvath if they each planned to testify. Mr. Peacock and Mr. Horvath both said they did. Chairman Szol asked if either party wished to invoke the rule of witnesses. Neither party wanted to invoke the rule. The Chairman asked Dennis Horvath, Greg Peacock and Robert Salata to stand and he swore them in. Chairman Szol stated that if there were no objections the records will show as Exhibit 1 the Department Head's letter of June 25, 1982 giving the grounds for adverse action and as Exhibit 2 the grievance form and written reply submitted by Mr. Peacock. Chairman Szol turned the floor over to Mr. Peacock. ~ Mr. Peacock said he would like to explain what happened. He said his boss, Robert Salata, was having problems with a girl. He said they would go by her house when they finished a job, a leak, or something like that and sit and talk for a while. He said he told Mr. Salata not to go there so much; they were going to get fired. Mr. Peacock said Mr. Salata would say o.k., but he would want to talk to her some more and would go by at lunch. He said they would stay a little bit too long. Mr. Peacock stated this went on for about a week. He said one day he told Mr. Salata that if he didn't quit going over there, he was going to ask John r4oody for a shift change. He said Robert Salata was a good man, he was just having girl problems. Mr. Peacock said he didn't know how to go to Mr. Moody and tell on his boss. He said no one would want ~o work with him after they found out he had got his boss in trouble. He said he was stuck in a place where he didn't know what to do. Mr. Peacock called Robert Salata as his witness. Robert Salata stated that he would like to confirm what Mr. Peacock said was true. He said Mr. Peacock gave him verbal warnings several times on several occasions that they were going to get into trouble. Mr. Salata said he ignored the warnings and reassured his crew members that they wouldn't get in trouble giving them a false security as to what was going on and what would happen. He said CIVIL SERVICE MINUTES July 20, 1982 ~ Page 3 Mr. Peacock not being with the city that long, went ~ along with thinking everything would be all right. He said the other member of the crew had also warned him. Mr. Salata said he tak~s full responsibility, did at the time of their being caught, and also took responsibility in his statement that his crew members were not responsible. Mr. Salata said Mr. Peacock had informed him of his intentions of wanting to go the Director and protest. Mr. Peacock stated that he was a level 2 and should have had more authority, but he ~ust didn't know how to go about telling on a man. He said he didn't want to cause him to get fired. Chairman Szol asked Mr. Horvath if he wanted to cross- examine. Mr. Horvath said he did not have any questions. Chairman Szol asked the Commission if they had any questions. Co~issioner Pederson asked if they went there more than once during any work shift or were they 3ust there at lunch or breaks. Mr. Peacock explained that a lot of times they would do a couple of tickets in the morning and then stop by the house during breaks and stay longer than they should. He said they would go by at lunch for a few minutes and eat a sandwich or just talk. He said that sometimes they would go by her house when they finished a ticket. He said there was also a rumor going around that one of the girls was 14 and one was 15. He said the ages of the girls were 16 and 19. Chairman Szol asked if he knew what was transpiring was wrong. Mr. Peacock stated he did. He said if another day or so had went by he would have asked for a shift change. He stated that if Mr. Moody had asked why he would have told him it wasn't working out. Mr. Roark stated that fifteen minute coffee breaks are acknowledgeable by most companies. He asked about the driving time. Mr. Peacock said that is true. He explained that when everyone else in the city finishes a job they drive to a store and take their break. Mr. Roark said if you are at one end of the City and ~ Watauga is at the other end that takes some time. CIVIL SERVICE MINUTES July 20, 1982 _ Page 4 Mr. Pederson asked if it had occurred to him that ` perhaps there was someone else in the City he could go to who wasn't necessarily a department head or leadman that could help him figure out how to get out of his predicament. Mr. Peacock said he talked to one other leadman about it, and he told him not to worry about it; they could have a fight and it would be over with. The Chairman told Mr. Salata he could step down and asked Mr. Horvath if he had any questions. Dennis Horvath stated he had no questions. He explained that the City Secretary received a call from a citizen in Watauga who wouldn't identify herself. He said the caller stated that a'79 Chevrolet white pickup was at this house for two or three times a day for various times for up to two hours at a time. Mr. Horvath said the caller also gave the license number of the pickup. He said the caller stated that there were two teenage girls at the house alone. He said the caller never mentioned the ages of the girls and he didn`t know how the ages came into it. He explained that he and Allen went to the house the next morning. He said Al1en Bronstad first went to the shop when the men picked up their job tickets at 8:00 for that morning's work. He said he was not sure what time they left the shop, but Allen and he arrived at the house in Watauga at 8:50. He said they parked outside, waited until they came out at 9:30 and then brought them back to City Hall and asked each of them to write a statement. He said each statement was a little different as to how many times they were at the house and how long they stayed at the house. He said he knew for a fact they were there for forty minutes that morning; if they went there right after they got their job assignments it could have been over an hour. He said he was concerned about the implications if there were two teenage girls and was relieved to learn one of them was the girlfriend of the leadman as opposed to just two teenage girls. He said Mr. Bronstad and he looked at the statements, talked it over and then talked it over with John Moody and the immediate supervisor. He said they indicated they didn't see where we had much choice but to suspend all three. Mr. Peacock stated he was not sure what time they arrived at the house that day, but they left the shop at 8:05 a.m. and did one ticket, a meter leak, and went from there to the house. Chairman Szol asked if the Commissioner~ had any questions. CIVIL SERVICE MINUTES July 20, 1982 Page 5 Commissioner Roark asked if it was ever investigated as ~ to where they were suppose to be according to the job ticket. Dennis Horvath stated the foreman in charge passed out the tickets and he had no idea what ticket they had or what jobs they had to do that day.. Commissioner Roark asked if copies of the tickets were kept. Dennis Horvath said he wasn't for sure. Mr. Peacock explained that the green tickets are taken to City Hall by John Moody after the jobs are finished. Dennis Horvath said he was sure the tickets were available somewhere. Commissioner Roark asked Mr. Peacock if he remembered what his job ticket said he was suppose to be doing at that time. Mr. Peacock said he remembered for sure that the job was in Echo Hills. He said they picked the ticket because the job was about nine or ten blocks from her house. He told the Commission he knew where the street was but couldn't tell them the name. Chairman Szol asked Mr. Horvath what the position of the city is relative to the procedure an employee should follow if he feels there is something going on he shouldn't be a party to. Mr. Horvath said he did not know of a written procedure, but he has heard of it happening once since he has been with the city where the individual went to the supervisor. Chairman Szol asked if either party had anything further they wanted to offer before the hearing is closed for deliberation. The Chairman closed the hearing for deliberation. The Chairman called the appeal hearing back to order and read the decision of the Commission: "The Commission believes Mr. Peacock should have reported the infractions which were occurring. In not doing so he exercised extremeLy poor ~udgment, which by itself is just cause for discharge. However, in view of the testimony that he was participating under direction of his immediate ' supervisor the Commission believes the indefinite suspension should be modified to a twenty-one (21) working day suspension without pay." CIVIL SERVICE MINUTES July 20, 1982 Page 6 _ The Chairman called for a roll call with the following vote recorded: Bob Roark yea George Pederson yea Ed Szol yea Chairman Szol told Mr. Peacock he would be given a written statement of the decision. He told Mr. Peacock that if he does not agree with the decision, he has ten days in which to appeal it to District Court. He said if he did not decide to appeal it, then his first work day would commence on the 26th day of July. The Chairman closed the Appeal Hearing. REVIEW OF EMPLOYEE Mr. McKinney advised the Commission that since the City OPTIONAL BENEFIT PLAN was withdrawing from Social Security on January 1, 1983, PROPOSALS he felt the City should have available an alternate benefit plan for employees. Mr. McKinney stated he sent letters to nine insurance companies and brokers, inviting them to propose an optional benefit plan. Of the nine companies invited, only one (Gornto, Kebodeaux and Bliese, Houston) submitted a plan that would provide coverage for these benefits lost or reduced when the City withdraws from Social Security, except for Medicare insurance. The Commission had a general discussion regarding the G.K.B. proposal. The Commission had the following questions that they instructed Mr. McKinney to bring before the Council regarding G.K.B. and their proposal: (1) What is the reliability of Gornto, Kebodeax & Bliese? (2) What interest assumptions were used by G.K.B. in projecting retirement benefits? (3) What is the possibility of a five-year vesting of City's contributions? (4) What guarantees are there that the disability and survivors benefits will not exceed the city's 6.7% contribution rate? (5) What is the position of future retirees regarding medical insurance, since medicare is not included in the proposed benefit plan? (6) What happen5_ if less than 75% of the employees ' enroll as required by the plan agreement? CIVIL SERVICE MINUTES July 20, 1982 Fage 7 Mr. McKinney agreed to present these quest~ons to the Council. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m. r--- D SZOL, CHAIRMAN RON Mc I Y, CIVIL VICE SECRETARY ~ ~