Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - August 15, 2006 SSCITY OF LODI INFORMAL INFORMATIONAL MEETING "SHIRTSLEEVE" SESSION CARNEGIE FORUM, 305 WEST PINE STREET TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2006 An Informal Informational Meeting ("Shirtsleeve" Session) of the Lodi City Council was held Tuesday, August 15, 2006, commencing at 7:02 a.m. A. ROLL CALL Present: Council Members — Beckman, Hansen, Johnson, Mounce, and Mayor Hitchcock Absent: Council Members — None Also Present: City Manager King, City Attorney Schwabauer, and Interim City Clerk Perrin B. TOPIC(S) B-1 "Presentation and discussion of automated staffing system (TeleStaff) for the Fire Department' Fire Chief Pretz reported that TeleStaff has been operating since 1990 and over the last 16 years has perfected its automated staffing program to be computer, phone, and Web based. Battalion chiefs spend an hour to an hour and a half daily putting together the schedules, filling vacancies due to sick leave and vacations, calling back employees for overtime to meet minimum staffing requirements, and notifying Fire Administration, each fire station, and the Stockton Dispatch Center of the final schedule for the day. Chief Pretz demonstrated the multiple, redundant steps that are completed each day, as well as the various reports and programs used, throughout this daily process. A set procedure is followed for calling back staff, which includes working from voluntary and mandatory overtime lists until all slots are filled. Should an opening occur in the middle of a shift, the process starts over again. Time cards, overtime cards, and exceptions reports are verified, finalized, and submitted to the Finance Department in the required format. Every 27 days, payroll provides a report of the hours worked, including overtime and leave balances for each employee as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. All of this is manually tracked, is time intensive, and allows room for human error. There are specific rules that state, if someone is called out of sequence to work overtime, that person as well as the individual who was overlooked would both receive overtime pay. Kevin Donnelly, Fire Division Chief — Operations, presented examples (filed) of the various forms used to manually track staffing and payroll related tasks and explained that TeleStaff would automate the staffing, callback, and emergency notifications for the Fire Department. Mayor Pro Tempore Johnson questioned if this hour and a half process was in preparation for work on that day or for the next, to which Mr. Donnelly responded that it is for that day, as well as nine days out. The Fire Department works on a nine -day schedule, and the same crew works on the same shifts for that period of time. Mr. Donnelly further explained that each platoon (three total) works alternating 24 hours (three on and two off), followed by four days off. With the aid of a PowerPoint presentation (filed), Mr. Donnelly demonstrated the problems with manually processing the payroll. Fire staff currently uses a pager system as the notification process to call back staff for an emergency or to provide information regarding work schedules, special meetings, or training. Scheduling utilizes three separate computer programs: Outlook calendar for scheduling time off requests; the FireHouse RIMS system for tracking personnel on shift, training, and inspection programs; and an in-house overtime tracking system, which is used to facilitate the development of the list for call back opportunities. In addition, there are six paper files used throughout the process. Continued August 15, 2006 Council Member Hansen questioned how the mandatory overtime list works and what time of day employees are typically called, to which Mr. Donnelly stated that the mandatory overtime list can only be utilized for the day of the need and is usually done in the morning. The nine day in advance overtime is on a voluntary basis. Employees are allowed to turn down mandatory overtime once, after which they are penalized hours if they turn it down a second consecutive time. The hours are the measure of where one is on the list. Once an employee serves on a mandatory basis, it wipes the slate clean, and there would be another opportunity to turn down mandatory overtime due to any reason. Not all employees are on the mandatory overtime list; it is voluntary to sign up and there are tenefits associated with it that work in lieu of a seniority system. Chief Pretz explained that many of these rules have evolved over time and are a direct result of problems that happened during a process. Any changes to the current system would require a great deal of negotiation and buy -in from the employees; this proposal would automate the process and remove the error factor. City Manager King stated that this type of complexity is not unique to Lodi and is quite common among fire departments. Any attempt to change or streamline the process would be subject to a meet and confer process as most of the rules are either articulated within the Memorandum of Understanding or are considered past practice. Council Member Beckman stated that American Medical Response recently switched from 24-hour shifts to 12 -hour shifts and questioned if doing this would solve the City's staffing issues, as well as provide a higher level of service. Chief Pretz responded in the negative, adding that it would double the problem and increase the number of workers compensation claims. He believed the 12 -hour model was not viable; however, the 10/14 model would be a better option for fire services, which allows firefighters to work a 10 -hour day shift and 14 - hour night shift (or some combination of 24 hours). Mayor Pro Tempore Johnson questioned whether the firefighters union would accept this automated system and if this would alleviate its concerns and grievances. Mr. Donnelly responded that he has been meeting with the group to discuss ways of reducing errors and maintaining fairness. The union's main concern is that time is fairly distributed based upon the rules, and TeleStaff would make every effort to apply all City regulations to the program. Union members have spoken with other agencies that currently use this program and have expressed their support. Mr. Donnelly reviewed the following features of the TeleStaff system: 00 Ensures implementation of fair and consistent hiring practices; 00 Manages human resources policies, allowing for reports and tracking of types of time off (e.g. injury leave, sick leave, etc.) by individual; 00 Provides telephone, Web, and computer access to employee calendars; 00 Manages dynamic daily rosters of all activities. If the schedule changes during the middle of a shift, the program would automatically fill any vacancies; oo "Turnkey" hardware/software solution; 00 Experienced in nationwide software distribution and maintenance and is used for police and fire departments throughout the country; 0o Supports authorized scheduled requests and inquiries from any touchtone phone and Web browser, which would allow employees to answer requests for overtime, view the schedule to request time off, or change contact information. Each user would have his/her own password to access the system; oo Operates on existing computer network and supports virtually all network protocols; 00 Includes a sophisticated security system, will be password protected, and will grant individuals certain rights into the system (i.e. some will have view access only; others will have authority to approve or fill time off based on applied rules); 2 Continued August 15, 2006 oo Generates a detailed staffing usage report with the ability to track time off; oo Accurately reports daily payroll and will export the information into an Excel file, which is the required format of the Finance Department; oo Roster includes hourly head count of on -duty personnel including their station or shift assignment; 00 Provides telephone pager delivery of staffing notifications, requests for work, and general messages. Staff can create up to three per individual contact points. The program would show changes to the staff roster in real time, utilizing the City's payroll codes, and would indicate employees' areas of expertise (e.g. driver, hazmat, etc). A customized message could be sent to a group if there is a staff meeting or a need to operate the emergency operations center. It could also call with reminders regarding work schedules or shift trades. Work history reports can be generated showing hours worked, sick or vacation leave taken, and remaining balances of accrued time. The advanced calendar allows staff to view the anticipated staffing needs ahead of time, can be used for any working group or code, and can also aid in identifying leave trends. Rules can be applied to messages sent to staff to include contacting multiple phone numbers and allowing a specified response time before continuing on to the next number. There are 45 other California public safety agencies currently using TeleStaff, including Elk Grove Community Services District and Sacramento, Manteca, and Tracy fire departments. For a 65 -user license for the Fire Department, the initial start up cost would be $28,000, which would include hardware, software, development, and licenses. For both the Fire and Police Departments, a 150 -user license would be $45,000, and for City-wide deployment, a 400 - user license would cost $90,000. The recommendation at this time is to purchase the program for the Fire Department only. Annual maintenance costs would include full implementation, training, updates, and support, and Mr. Donnelly estimated the price would be equivalent to 10% of the program cost. The program is expandable and the City would be able to purchase additional licenses at a later time for roughly $1,000 per block of 20 users. In response to Mayor Hitchcock, Chief Pretz stated that staff had considered a program for management of the emergency operations center, which could be utilized to notify residents in certain areas cf issues that may affect them (e.g. police training, hazardous materials incident, etc.) or notify residents city-wide in case of an emergency. This type of notification system is not being recommended at this time. In answer to Mayor Hitchcock, Mr. Donnelly stated that the quote for the TeleStaff system includes $4,000 in hardware, particularly for telephone interface equipment, and staff believed it was prudent to utilize the manufacturer's hardware versus purchasing it separately, not knowing whether it would be compatible. Mayor Hitchcock questioned whether this expense was budgeted as she did not recall specific discussions regarding the program during the budget process, to which Chief Pretz responded that $31,000 was budgeted under Administration computer costs. Council Member Hansen believed that 45 fire departments nationwide was not an impressive number and questioned how thoroughly staff researched this system, as well as others. Mr. Donnelly stated that most systems are based on a standard business model and are not flexible in accommodating the rules of independent agencies. TeleStaff was designed on a fire model and is the predominate program used by those agencies who have moved to an automated system. There are some fire services that have a staff officer whose primary job is to ensure that staffing levels are adequate. He pointed out that the TeleStaff system is compatible with the Fire Department's systems and, over the last ten years, has been proven to work well. Continued August 15, 2006 In response to Mayor Pro Tempore Johnson regarding potential benefits, Deputy City Manager Krueger stated that he believed the program was expandable should the City choose to broaden the system beyond the Fire Department; it would interface well with the Finance Department's payroll reporting requirements; and it would reduce the redundancies in the process, allowing for greater efficiencies. Mr. Johnson expressed concern for purchasing a program that would only serve to manage a cumbersome paper process, rather than improving upon the method. Mr. King summarized that this matter would come back to Council in September for consideration on whether or not to move forward with the purchase. PUBLIC COMMENTS: 00 Myrna Wetzel questioned how much this program would reduce the one and a half hours spent on payroll related tasks, to which Mr. Donnelly explained that the model assumed a 70% time savings. Chief Pretz added that in ten months the City would receive back the entire cost of the program in efficiencies. Ms. Wetzel questioned if the program would be secure and protect against computer hackers, to which Chief Pretz responded in the affirmative. C. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS None. D. ADJOURNMENT No action was taken by the City Council. The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 a.m. ATTEST: Jennifer M. Perrin Interim City Clerk 0