Agenda - Council - 03/12/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Musgrove noted that the section about employees not being able to work overtime unless they received prior approval from the department heads; however, in other sections it says approval can come from a designee. She said she would like the approval to stay with the department head. She asked why these two areas were different. Administrative Services Director Lasher explained that there are a lot of places within the policy that it says `designee' and there are two different ways to look at the use of this word. She noted that most people will be going to the department head; however, if the department head is not available, that is when the designee would come into play. She noted that overtime can be very time sensitive and if the department head is not available then this would fall to the designee. City Administrator Hagen added that the department heads are also the ones who are responsible for department budgets. Councilmember Woestehoff suggested having the department head or City Administrator be the ones to approve overtime. He added that the last paragraph of Section 5.1 seems redundant based on what was discussed previously concerning secondary employment. Administrative Services Director Lasher stated this paragraph is slightly different. Councilmember Musgrove suggested having these written agreements brought to the Council for approval. Administrative Services Director Lasher gave an example of an employee who was employed by both Ramsey and Anoka County at the same time. City Administrator Hagen stated they can discuss this section more in the future. Councilmember Woestehoff noted that different labor unions have negotiations at different times. He asked if the plan was to do negotiations simultaneously within a single department or with all departments at the same time. Administrative Services Director Lasher explained that they have managed to keep all unions on the same negotiation schedule. Councilmember Musgrove suggested that the department heads can assess what classification employees are in on an ongoing basis. She asked if this is already an ongoing process. Administrative Services Director Lasher noted this is possibly not currently happening, but she is not sure. She explained that the Labor Management Committee and the employee survey both focus on staying on top of classifications and adding something in policy that states that these classifications will be looked at on a regular basis. She stated this new language is an attempt to address that in the policy. Councilmember Woestehoff noted that some of the labor contracts are three year contracts so there would be no review of the pay scale in that timeframe. City Council Work Session /February 26, 2024 Page 6 of 9