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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-OR-27ORDINANCE NO. 2008-OR- 027 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA AUTHORIZING ELECTED OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES USE OF CELL PHONES FOR OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT BUSINESS AND REGULATING THE NUMBER OF MINUTES AVAILABLE TO EACH INDIVIDUAL AUTHORIZED TO USE A CELL PHONE WHEREAS, the Jeffersonville City Council is the statutodly created fiscal body of the city and is obligated to regulate city finances and city property; and WHEREAS, the City of Jeffersonville, in conjunction with the Mayor of Jeffersonville, have determined that in some instances the use of a cell phones provided for and paid for by the city is necessary for the purpose of conducting city business efficiently and effectively; and WHEREAS, the City of Jeffersonville has determined that it is necessary for some elected officials, department heads and essential employees be available at all times and be on-call at all times in order to insure that the business of the city can be undertaken in emergencies and/or post haste; and WHEREAS, the City currently has an undetermined number of cell phones that are being utilized by employees, elected officials and department heads; and WHEREAS, there are no regulations or policies regarding the use of these cell phones nor are the policies or regulations determining who should be issued these city paid for cell phones; and WHEREAS, in an effort to regulate the cost of cell phones to the city as well as to insure that only essential city employees, department heads and elected officials have the use and benefit of cell phones at the taxpayers expenses the City Council shall establish the following Cell Phone Use Policy and Ordinance: NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION ONE: ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE: A. The City shall only pay for the cell phone use of those employees, elected officials or department heads who are deemed to be "essential government employees". B. "Essential Government Employee" shall be defined as follows: Page 1 of 5 Any employee that is "on-call" 24 hours a day and that must report to his or her jab post at the instruction of his supervisor and/or department head; Or Is an employee that has a need for a cell phone to effectively perform his or her job requirements as determined by the employees department head, by job description or as set forth in the personnel manual as adopted by the City of Jef/ereonville, Indiana. SECTION TWO: PROCESS FOR SECURING CITY CELL PHONE: A. In order to secure a cell phone a requisition and request shall be submiHed to the Purchasing AgenUAgency. Said request shall be submitted by the elected ofgcial or Department Head explaining the reason for the need for the employee to have a cell phone. B. The Purchasing Agency for the City shall determine in advance the appropriate vendor to provide cell phone services for the city. C. The cell phone shall remain the property of the City and will remain so until it is declared surplus and disposed of in a manner acceptable to the City. D. All bills for the use of cell phones shall be sent to the Purchasing AgenUPurchasing Agency and the Clerk-Treasurer of the City. E. An authorized cell phone user shall be obligated to reimburse the City for any and all personal calls transacted by the use of the cell phone. F. Reimbursement shall be by cash, check or money order submitted to the City within ten (10) days of the receipt of the cell phone bill. SECTION THREE: USE OF PERSONAL CELL PHONE FOR CITY BUSINESS: A. If an employee uses his or her personal cell phone for City business calls, he or she shall be responsible for full payment of the bill and may submit requests for reimbursement for City business to the City Council using the proper claim form as approved by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. B. The employee shall submit written authorization from the Department Head far reimbursement along with a copy of the bill highlighting such calls and with an explanation of why those calls were business related. Page 2 of 5 C. Reimbursement will be given in the employees' name only, not to the cell phone provider. The rates established for the cell-phone service shall remain between the employee and the service provider. SECTION FOUR: LIMITATION UPON USE OF CITY OWNED AND PAID FOR CELL PHONES A. Each Department of the City shall have the following number of cell phones for that departments' use: Department No. Phones Annual Budget Parks Department 15 $5,800 Mayor's Office 3 $1,200 Human Resource 1 $385 Animal Shelter 2 $770 Vehicle Maintenance 4 $1,550 Building Commissioner 5 $1,950 Redevelopment 1 $385 Planning & Zoning 1 8385 City Council 7 $2,700 Clerk Treasurer 1 $385 'I T Departrnent 1 $2,400 . Fire Department 8 $3,100 Street Department 4 $1,540 Sewer Department 1 $385 City Engineer 16 $6,150 •*Police Department 27 $11,200 Tofal Annual Budget $40,285 •The I.T. Department shall have the option to secure a Wireless Card In atldldon to the cell phone. However, the wireless card shall be paid from the 1.T. budgeted amount as set forth in this ordinance. '•The Police Departments' butlget has been approved for this amount for calendar year 2008. In addldon, the Police Department has two (2) Wireless Card as well. 8. The Couneil shall have the option fo increase or reduce the funding as set forth in this ordinance pursuant to the mandates of Indiana law as it relates to the City Council's obligation to oversee the finances and the property of the City. N the CNy Council's budget deviates from the distribution of phones and funds as set forth herein said deviation shall not be considered in derogation of this ordinance, but shall be considered the Council's lawful exercise of ifs statutory duty fo provide for adequate funding to meet those needs as determined by the fiscal body of the City. Page 3 of 5 C. The City shall only pay for cell phone use of those "essential government employees" and/or those employees that utilize their private cell phones for city business. D. The City shall not pay any additional fees for text messaging, email, fax and/or intemet use. E. The City's purchasing agency shall be obligated to, when possible, negotiate and secure the best available cell phone agreement with a single provider. All City cell phones shall be secured from a single cell phone provider, when possible, in order to insure that the city negotiates the best possible cell phone agreement. F. gan employee exceeds the allocated minutes of three hundred minutes (300) per month that employee shall be obligated to pay the overage at the rate of twenty-five cents (0.25) per minute. An employee or department head shall have the option to petition the council to pay for any employees overage minutes. SECTION FIVE: Claims In Excess of Cell Phone Budget Prohibited: The Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer, City Judge and City Council have a fiduciary duty to the citizens and taxpayers of Jeffersonville to conduct public business within the parameters of those budgets that are set every year by the fiscal body of the city. Therefore, based upon this fiduciary duty the following shall be adopted: A. The Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer and City Council are responsible for having full and complete knowledge of the existing balances of their various budget line items; B. The Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer, and City Council shall be prohibited from expending monies in excess of those amounts budgeted for "Cell Phone Use" during each calendar year. C. If the Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer, City Council or any of their employees or appointees submit claims for payment, reimbursement or other financial remuneration for cell phone use and either no funds exist to pay the request and/or the balance is insufficient to pay said request said claim shall be deemed to be "unlawful" and the council shall not be mandated to pay said claim pursuant to those dictates of Indiana Code. SECTION SIX: Severability. Should any section, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance, or its application to any person or circumstance, be declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid for any reason, or should any portion of this ordinance be preempted by state or federal law or regulation, such decision or preemption shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance or its application to other persons or circumstances. Page 4 of 5 Voted Against: t0 Passed this ' r~day of .2008. tt C t2 t3 yor Thomas Gall 1a is Attest: /~ ~- n Peggy~er, Clerk•Treasurer t9 Presented by me, Peggyer, as a Clerk and Treasurer to the Mayor of said City of 20 Jeffersonville, Indiana on this dayo n .2008. 2t 22 23 A ~ ~~ zq Peg ilder, Clerk-Treasurer 25 26 This ordinance approved~ ,~~rq~d signed by homas Galligan, Mayor of the City of 27 Jeffersonville, Indiana o Nom' day of , 2008. zs 29 30 ~ 3t Thomas Galligan, yo 32 33 3q This ordinance was vetoed by me, Thomas Galligan, Mayor of Jeffersonville, Indiana on 35 this the day of , 2008. 36 37 38 39 - omas Gallig n, ay r Page 5 of 5 Vote For: !~ ~~-~t-+-J Gyt/l