Minutes - Council Work Session - 06/23/2020

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Communications and Events Coordinator Thorstad replied that the City has paid a$1,000 deposit with a contract total of$4,000. Councilmember Musgrove asked if the hours of staff time and cost is just for the week of the event or whether that includes the planning prior to that. Communications and Events Coordinator Thorstad replied that is a cumulative total of the planning for the festival, based on 2019 numbers. Administrative Services Director Lasher stated that staffing looks quite different this year, noting that staffing will be impacted by the decision on Happy Days. She noted that there is a pending absence of 12 weeks for the Communications and Events Coordinator, which will impact staffing of regular duties and would significantly impact planning for Happy Days. She stated that this will impact the 20/per week Recreation Specialist. She stated that staff is recommending that the Recreation Specialist be increased in mid-July to work with Communications and Events Coordinator Thorstad to gain additional knowledge on the communications duties. She provided an update on intern positions that were not hired due to the COVID-19 situation. She stated that the Recreation Specialist will be a good fit to cover the duties of Communications and Events Coordinator Thorstad during the 12 week leave of absence. She noted that there would still be a cost savings to bringing the Recreation Specialist on at 40 hours per week. Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that staff has talked about how all the pieces work together. He noted that staff believes that all the recreation planning in the works could be completed along with the Happy Days light events that were previously discussed by the Council. Mayor LeTourneau commented that there seems to be some planning in place for decisions to be made about programming into the summer. He stated that it appears utilizing the Recreation Specialist at 40 hours per week would allow staffing activities to continue. Councilmember Heinrich asked if there would be a change in benefits for the employee. Administrative Services Director Lasher replied that currently at 20 hours per week,the employee accrues sick time and vacation time and receives the PERA benefit. She stated that those benefits would then be based at 40 hours per week instead of 20 hours per week. She stated that the employee would be offered the health insurance waiver, similar to other employees that have gone from part-time to full-time. She noted that three-month calculation was factored into the cost savings proposed. Councilmember Musgrove asked if that practice is used for the transition from part-time to full- time status on a regular basis or temporary basis. Administrative Services Director Lasher replied that practice has been done in the past on temporary basis such as this. She provided details on the memorandum of agreement that is done with AFCSME. City Council Work Session/June 23, 2020 Page 2 of 7