The City of Sparks, Nevada, enters into labor agreements with its various collective bargaining units.  The International Association of Firefighters Local No. 1265 contract expired June 30, 2017. The parties began meeting in the Spring of 2017, and continued to meet on a regular basis to discuss the terms and conditions of the agreement. The collective bargaining agreement proposed today is the result of those meetings. The City and the bargaining unit believe the attached agreement fairly represents a good faith effort to reach agreement involving wage rates and benefits. The bargaining unit ratified the agreement.  Now both negotiating teams recommend ratification/approval of the proposed agreement by council.

Following is a Summary of Tentative Agreement reached between the parties.  This summary outlines the contract changes.  Also attached to this report are a strike-out version and the final version of the proposed agreement, and a financial impact statement.

Summary of Tentative Agreements:

Section 1: Administration, Article D: Duration of Agreement.   This section was changed to reflect the new contract period of July 1, 2017 thru June 30, 2018.  There is no direct cost related to this contract change.

Section 1: Administration, Article G: Staffing.  Contract language was added to memorialize current practices and better define normal daily staffing processes and requirements.  This has no fiscal impact.

Section 1: Administration, Article O: Personnel Reduction.  This section clarifies that employees with the job title, Firefighter and employees with the job title Firefighter/Paramedic are equivalent in level in the “career ladder” as defined in the City of Sparks Civil Service Regulations.  This would be applied in the case of a personnel reduction.  There is no financial impact.

Section 1: Administration, Article P: Consolidation.  In this section, the parties agree to reopen this contract to negotiate wages specific to the Fire Prevention Inspector II job title once the City receives results from the class and compensation study currently underway.  The financial impact, if any, cannot be determined as of this date.

Section 2: Pay, Article A: Pay Rates.

The parties have agreed to the following pay increases:

Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

Effective the first full pay period following July 1, 2017, employees shall receive a cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 2.0% above the base salary rate in effect June 30, 2017.

The financial impact to the general fund is estimated to be $186,000 per fiscal year during FY18, FY19 and FY20.  Other funds are expected to have a financial impact of $2,300 per fiscal year for FY18, FY19 and FY20.

Section 2: Pay, Article C: Overtime Pay.  This section of the contract was changed to make clear that for day light savings, employees who are on shift trade or holiday compensation time (HCT), the employee who shift traded will receive the extra hour, not the relief employee.  There is no financial impact.  The wage payable has not changed.  What is clarified is which employee receives the pay.

Section 2: Pay, Article D: Educational Incentive Pay and Educational Leave. In this section, the effective date in 2016 was removed because it is no longer necessary.  The provisions are effective the entire duration of the new contract in question.  Additionally, a matrix was added for easy reference.  It does not change the benefits.  There is no financial impact.

Section 2: Pay, Article E: Special Duties Differential Pay. The parties agreed to multiple changes in this article.  All but one of the changes were agreed to and approved by Council in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) dated February 6, 2017.  The language is now formally included in the contract.  The changes from the MOU already went into effect during the prior contract period.  The one new item that was not covered by the MOU is listed here as the initial item.  First, the new change is that special pays are no longer paid as a percentage of the base wage for the top step of a specified job.  Instead, all special pays are a percentage of the employee’s base wage.  The financial impact of this is estimated at $15,000 per fiscal year to the general fund in FY18, again in FY19 and again in FY20.

Second, the parties agree that the Nevada Advanced Emergency Medical (EMT-A) certification is an essential function of the jobs of Firefighter, Fire Apparatus Operator and Fire Captain.  Therefore, the EMT-A is no longer paid a special pay.  Instead, it was converted to a dollar amount added to the base wage and employees in these job titles are required to maintain this certification or higher.  An exception was made for two named employees who were grandfathered based upon their years of service.  They do not have to obtain the certification, but if they do not they do not receive an increase in their base pay.  There is no new financial impact because this was already agreed upon through MOU.

Third, the pay rate for the job of Firefighter/Paramedic was established.  Existing employees transferring from the job of Firefighter to Firefighter/Paramedic must give a 3-year commitment, but may return to the job of Firefighter after that if they so choose after the 3- year commitment period ends.  New employees hired with the Firefighter/Paramedic title must possess and maintain their Nevada Paramedic certification.  Again, there is no new financial impact.  It was already agreed upon and ratified by council through the MOU process.

Fourth, Paramedic became a special pay for qualifying Fire Apparatus Operators and Fire Captains at a pay rate of 3% of the base wage of the employee.

Finally, the City agrees to pay for the cost of renewal of the Nevada Paramedic certificate for Firefighter/Paramedics and employees receiving the Paramedic special pay.  Like the previous two changes, this has no new financial impact.  The parties agreed to it and council ratified it through an MOU.

Section 2: Pay, Article F: Acting Temporary Pay. In this article, it is clarified that at no time will acting pay cause an employee’s wage to exceed the pay of the top step of the higher classification.  There is no financial impact to the City because the City did not pay more than the top step of the higher classification under past contracts.  It was added through the MOU and now in the contract language to continue the same pay practice.

Section 4: Leave Benefits, Article B: Annual Leave. In this article, there are four main changes.  First, the requirements section for normal vacations was removed.  Three is no financial impact to this.  It does not change accruals.

Second, obligations for scheduling minimum annual leave in July and cancellation of leave by August was stricken.  This does not have a financial impact either.  It is procedural, but does not change leave accruals.

Third, there is a provision for emergency leave added.  It allows employees the ability to use existing leave for emergency situations where they cannot obtain the otherwise mandatory prior authorization for leave.  This section does not grant any additional leave accrual to the employee, and there is no financial impact.

Finally, the accrual rate and maximum accumulation for annual leave were both changed in this article.  Those changes are reflected in the table below:

The change to the accrual rates beginning at 10 years of service does have a financial impact.  It is estimated to cost $59,000 per fiscal year from the general fund in FY18, FY19 and FY20.  Other funds will have a financial impact estimated at $900 per fiscal year for FY18, FY19 and FY20.  The increase to the vacation accrual maximum has the potential to increase City liabilities.  For 40-hour employees, it is estimated to increase the liability to the general fund by an estimated total of $5,000 from FY18 to FY20.  For 56-hour employees, the estimate is $14,000 in increased liability in total from FY18 to FY20.

Section 4: Leave Benefits, Article C: Sick Leave.  The new contract language allows the Fire Chief or designee to authorize sick leave, such as bereavement, that is not covered under Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as follows.  A 56 hour a week employee may be granted up to 4 (increased from 3) consecutive shifts of 24 hours per shift in any one event, not to exceed 3 events per calendar year.  A 40 hour a week employee may be granted up to 2 weeks for an equivalent of 80 hours (increased from 9 days) per event not to exceed 3 events per calendar year.

1. The Council may choose to approve the proposed collective bargaining agreement.
2. The Council may choose not to approve the proposed collective bargaining agreement.
3. The Council may choose not to approve the proposed collective bargaining agreement and direct the City Manager toward another alternative.

I move to approve the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Sparks and the International Association of Firefighters Local No. 1265 for the period of July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018.