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Cmd081120 spec mtgEDMONDS CITY COUNCIL VIRTUAL ONLINE SPECIAL MEETING APPROVED MINUTES August 11, 2020 ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT Mike Nelson, Mayor Adrienne Fraley-Monillas, Council President (joined meeting at 10:29 p.m.) Kristiana Johnson, Councilmember Luke Distelhorst, Councilmember Diane Buckshnis, Councilmember Vivian Olson, Councilmember Susan Paine, Councilmember Laura Johnson, Councilmember 1. CALL TO ORDER STAFF PRESENT Jessica Neill Hoyson, HR Director Jeff Taraday, City Attorney Scott Passey, City Clerk The Edmonds City Council virtual online meeting was called to order at 10:25 p.m. by Mayor Nelson. 2. ACTION ITEM 1. COUNCIL LEGISLATIVE/EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT HR Director Neill Hoyson explained this is the new contract for Council legislative/executive assistant. It will become effective as of the date of Council approval and will extend through January 31, 2021. All items in the contract remain the same except for the wage; there is a proposed wage adjustment 2.75%, the same amount the non -represented (NR) employees received in 2020. It would be effective as of the date the Council approves the contract; retroactive payment is not permitted for this type of employee. Councilmember Buckshnis asked if the contract had been sent out to Councilmembers today. Ms. Neill Hoyson answered it was sent out yesterday by the City Clerk. Councilmember Buckshnis observed the contract still has 3 weeks of vacation; she asked what the 2.75% increase equated to. Ms. Neill Hoyson answered the 2.75% increase would increase the wage to $33.91/hour. Councilmember Buckshnis asked why this took so long to get approved; it is now August and the contact should have been approved earlier this year. Ms. Neill Hoyson answered per code the legislative/executive is assistant hired by Council on an annual basis. She has assisted Council with amendments to the contract throughout this year to allow the Council President time to complete the evaluation; three amendments were made to the contact that addressed giving the Council President time to complete the evaluation. Ultimately it is the Council's responsibility to hire this employee annually. Councilmember Buckshnis commented there have never been problems in past renewing contracts. The contract has been renewed twice, it expired on June 30"', the evaluation was done in February. She Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 1 commented something needed to be with regard to the oversight of contracts as it was a disservice to employees who were being paid out of contract. (Council President Fraley-Monillas joined the meeting at 10:29 p.m.) Councilmember Buckshnis restated her question, why has it taken so long to present this contract to the Council; she has been out of contract since the end of June which was disservice to the employee. Council President Fraley-Monillas said mostly it was her fault because she wasn't aware she was keeping track of the contract. The contract expired at the end of June and she did not remember it had expired until recently. That is why there is a hurry now because technically she is working without a contract. Councilmember Buckshnis commented this seems like a consistent problem and suggested a tickler system to avoid it happening in the future. Council President Fraley-Monillas agreed she should have been paying closer attention. The contract could not be renewed initially due to COVID-related OPMA restrictions, then there was a delay until the evaluation was completed and then was evaluation done. She acknowledged there was no one to blame but her for not having it done by the end of June. Ms. Neill Hoyson advised Council President Fraley-Monillas that she had reviewed the proposed 2.75% wage increase with Council , but had not addressed any other issues. Council President Fraley-Monillas relayed the issue is although other NR employees received the small increase from January until now, the City cannot provide this position with retroactive pay; some of the delay was due to COVID. She suggested determining a way to compensate her for the portion of the year that she was not paid the additional 2.75% which equates to approximately $1000. There has been discussion about doubling the percentage of the wage increase between now and the end of the year to make up a portion of the time she was not paid the additional 2.75% or perhaps she could be provided more leave. Council President Fraley-Monillas supported compensating the employee in some way because tl,.s occurred through no fault of her own. Councilmember Paine relayed her understanding the pay increase of $0.91 per hour was the 2.75% that other NR employees received. Ms. Neill Hoyson agreed. To Council President Fraley-Monillas' point, the employee would have received it if her contract had been approved in a timely manner. The right thing to do is to find a good mathematically equation to adjust the hourly rate to address the loss of back pay. Councilmember Olson said her concern with that approach is future salaries are based on the current salary. Ms. Neill Hoyson said any doubling of the wage adjustment to accommodate the issue of the delay in contract approval would need to be noted in the contract and any future pay adjustment would be based on the 2.75% increase and not any additional percentage. Councilmember Buckshnis commented Ms. Judge should have reminded Council President that her contract had expired. This is tragic and an embarrassment. She did not know all the details, but the City needs to get something in place so this does not keep happening. Councilmember K. Johnson said Councilmember L. Johnson and -she reviewed this with Ms. Neill. Hoyson during the Public Safety, Personnel and Planning (PSPP) Committee meeting and it was then extended twice through June. At the time of the PSPP's review the performance review had not been done, which she believed was done in June. She agreed this should never happen, commenting contracting is a problem throughout the City as has been seen with other valued employees. She recommend key people look at this issue and determine a way to ensure it doesn't happen again. Councilmember K. Johnson said as she stated earlier, the idea that the Council President gives consent over the activities of the legislative assistant is something that was added to the contract after Ms. Judge Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 2 was hired and was totally inappropriate and in her personal experience, it has not been a fair or equitable process. With regard to a Councilmember giving the legislative/executive assistant project work and there is conflict in direction in that work and the Council President having control over that, that was added in the 2016 contract for Mr. Pierce. Council President Fraley-Monillas said that was added when Councilmember K. Johnson was Council President. Ms. Judge's performance evaluation was done well before June. Councilmember Buckshnis confirmed it was done in February. Council President Fraley-Monillas said COVID restrictions then occurred in March and it has gone on and on. There needs to be a way to compensate Ms. Judge. She asked whether the contract approval and a way to compensate her for the time she did not received the additional 2.75% needed to be resolved tonight. Mr. Taraday said it was problematic that Ms. Judge has been working without a contract and without any express acquiescence from the City Council. He assuming the Council knew she was still working so there is perhaps some implied acquiescence. This is not the way City business should function, to have people working without contracts, and he could not recommend she continue working without a contract. If there was something complicated about this that needed further thought, he suggested the Council approve the contract in the packet and/or make amendments to it and if a further amendments were needed to compensate her for the delayed pay raise, that could be address in a couple weeks to give Council and staff time to address it in a careful and thoughtful way. Councilmember Paine offered a suggestion, the difference is $0.91/hour. It has been seven months and adding another $0.91 to her base pay would essentially be the additional 2.75% that was missing for the first half of the year. She did not want Ms. Judge to suffer financially due to this oversight. She agreed with everyone's comments that there needed to be a system to track contracts. Ms. Neill Hoyson said using Councilmember Paine's suggestion, the hourly rate would be $34.82/hour; the contract language could be clarified that any subsequent raises would be based on the $33.91/hour rate. Councilmember Olson asked whether the Council would see the contract on the Consent Agenda with that language. Ms. Neill Hoyson said if the Council approved the contract with that amendment tonight, it would be approved with the amendment. Mr. Taraday advised the Council is in a special session so the Council has the ability to take action on the contract with or without amendments. Councilmember L. Johnson appreciated Mr. Taraday suggestion that the Council could pass the contract as is tonight and, especially considering the late hour, give careful consideration into the best way to compensate her for the lost pay. COUNCILMEMBER L. JOHNSON MOVED TO APPROVE THE CONTRACT AS IS. Councilmember K. Johnson raised a point of order, that the Council had not concluded questions. Mayor Nelson ruled point taken. Councilmember K. Johnson pointed out the contract was not in the packet. Staff said it was sent by email but she did not see the email. She felt it was inappropriate to take action at 10:48 p.m. when the Council did not have all the information. Council President Fraley-Monillas said staff should not be punished due to a Councilmember not looking at their packet. Councilmember K. Johnson reiterated it was not in the packet. Council President Fraley- Monillas advised it was sent this afternoon. She did not want staff to be punished and not able to work due to this oversight. She supported approving the contract and figuring out the further compensation with Ms. Neill Hoyson by the end of the week as Mr. Taraday made it clear to her that this has to be dealt with tonight. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 3 Councilmember Distelhorst advised packet was emailed to Council by City Clerk Scott Passey at 4:00 p.m. Monday. Councilmember L. Johnson said the legislative assistant falls under the Council's purview and the Council needs to approve her contract tonight. Contract amendments have been considered by Council numerous times. She did not find an issue with approving the contract as is tonight and then carefully considering the additional compensation moving forward. Councilmember K. Johnson pointed out the Council typically get packets Friday afternoon. Sending something out at 4 p.m. Monday or 3 p.m. on Tuesday with the expectation that Councilmembers have read it is unrealistic. The Council President, Mayor and staff have a duty to provide a complete packet and she found this an inappropriate way to conduct business. Councilmember Olson said she did not wholly disagree with Councilmember K. Johnson. It may have been enough time but a heads up phone call would have been helpful so that it was sure to be on Council's radar. She was in favor of proceeding with the basic contract because the only change from last year's contract is the 2.75% COLA. Ms. Neill Hoyson agreed. Councilmember Olson was comfortable going forward with approving the contract tonight. She found it interesting that Councilmembers were saying an employee shouldn't pay the price for things that were not done right by the City in this case, but when came to Chief Lawless, the Council didn't want to make up for what the City didn't do right. Council President Fraley-Monillas raised a point of order; the discussion was veering into other subjects including what happened last week as a comparison to this. Mayor Nelson ruled point taken, members will keep remarks strictly to the topics of discussion, the contract for the council legislative/executive assistant. COUNCIL PRESIDENT FRALEY-MONILLAS MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER L. JOHNSON, THAT WE APPROVE MS. JUDGE'S CONTRACT AND MS. NEILL HOYSON WILL GET BACK TO COUNCIL IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS WITH THE COMPENSATION FOR THE COLA THAT HAS BEEN MISSING FROM JANUARY TO AUGUST. Councilmember K. Johnson found it inappropriate to have a blank check. if the Council is approving a contract, they need to know the terms of the contract. She summarized this had not been done in a very professional manner. Councilmember Distelhorst said as Ms. Neill Hoyson said, the terms of the contract were the same as the contract that had already been extended with one change, the COLA that increases the wage from $33/hour to $33.91/hour. Ms. Neill Hoyson agreed that was the only change to the contract. Three amendments were approved with the existing language; the only difference from the previous amendments is the addition of the COLA. COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER OLSON, TO AMEND TO JUST APPROVE THE CONTRACT AS IS. Councilmember Buckshnis said at this late hour, the Council should approve the contract and Ms. Neill Hoyson and/or Council President Fraley-Monillas can bring back a new contract with a new dollar amount and it can either be scheduled on the Consent Agenda or a future agenda. The public did not see this contract because it was sent to COUnci l on Monday. Councilmember Paine said she would support a motion to have the contract extended to end of January 2021 with her wage at $33.91. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 4 Council President Fraley-Monillas raised a point of order; there is already have a motion and an amendment on the floor and it is not appropriate to place another motion on the floor. Mayor Nelson ruled point taken, there is a motion on the floor to approve the existing contract. Councilmember Paine raised a point of clarification, whether Councilmember Buckshnis' motion included $33/hour or $33.91/hour. Councilmember Buckshnis clarified her motion was to approve the contract with the COLA and staff or Council President Fraley-Monillas come back with the backpay. Council President Fraley-Monillas raised a point of order, stating that was her original motion, that Ms. Neill Hoyson would return to Council with the missing value. She wanted it to be clear in the motion that the Council would provide some level of compensation to address the 2.75% that had not been paid since January. Mayor Nelson ruled point not taken. Councilmember Buckshnis clarified her motion was to approve the contract with the COLA. The Council can trust Ms. Neill Hoyson to come back with the additional amount; that did not need to be included in the motion. Council President Fraley-Monillas said the motion says nothing about paying the back compensation. She encouraged Councilmembers to vote against the amendment and vote for the main motion that references that compensation. Councilmember L. Johnson appreciated wanting to clarify that Ms. Judge will be compensated and that would be her intent. Understanding that some research needs to occur, she was unsure the Council could definitively say that compensation would be provided and that there was a method to do it. Council President Fraley-Monillas said there are multiple ways of compensating Ms. Judge including doubling the COLA, providing additional leave, providing a flat amount, etc. Her problem with Councilmember Buckshnis' amendment is it does not clearly state Ms. Judge will be compensated. She suggested Councilmember Buckshnis change the motion to say Ms. Judge will be compensated. Councilmember Buckshnis said it was implied that the Council will do something about it and are directing Ms. Neill Hoyson to look into how to compensate Ms. Judge. To add it to the motion does not make sense because it is unknown how she will be compensated, whether it will be with money, leave or something else so a new contract will be required. She preferred to have that research done and a new contract presented. Council President Fraley-Monillas said Councilmember Buckshnis' statement made it clear Ms. Judge will be compensated. COUNCIL PRESIDENT FRALEY-MONILLAS WITHDREW THE MOTION. Councilmember Olson asked if a motion is withdrawn, whether the amendment becomes the main motion. Mr. Taraday answered said it was probably not proper to have Council President Fraley- Monillas' motion withdrawn when there was an amendment pending. He suggested starting from scratch. COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS WITHDREW THE AMENDMENT. COUNCILMEMBER OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT FRALEY- MONILLAS, TO APPROVE THE CONTRACT AS SUBMITTED TODAY IN THE PACKET WITH A FUTURE REVISIT TO THE COMPENSATION FOR THE TIME THAT WAS NOT DONE AT THAT HIGHER LEVEL. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 5 UPON ROLL CALL, MOTION CARRIED (6-0-1), COUNCIL PRESIDENT FRALEY-MONILLAS AND COUNCILMEMBERS DISTELHORST, BUCKSHNIS, OLSON, PAINE, AND L. JOHNSON VOTING YES; AND COUNCILMEMBER K. JOHNSON ABSTAINING._ 12. ADJOURN With no further business, the Council meeting was adjourned at 11:05 p.m. MICHAEL NELSON, MAYOR SCOTT PASSEY, CITY CLERK Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 6 UPON ROLL CALL, MOTION CARRIED (6-0-1), COUNCIL PRESIDENT FRALEY-MONILLAS AND COUNCILMEMBERS DISTELHORST, BUCKSHNIS, OLSON, PAINE, AND L. JOHNSON VOTING YES; AND COUNCILMEMBER K. JOIINSON ABSTAINING. 12. ADJOURN With no further business, the Council meeting was adjoLimed at .11:05 P.m. MI A- L NELSON MAYOR 5 PASS6TY--' 1:;dmonds City Council Approved Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 6 '� .. M 7��1