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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 17, 2023 City Council COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA April 17, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for the Regular Meeting on April 17, 2023. Council President Owen along with City Clerk Gill called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. The meeting was open to the public in person as well as live streamed via the City Website using Zoom. INVOCATION: Councilperson Ellis led the Invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: ROLL CALL: The roll call was conducted by City Clerk Lisa Gill and present in Council Chambers were Councilperson White, Councilperson Burns, Councilperson Paris, Councilperson Anderson, Councilperson Croft, Councilperson Webb, Council President Owen, Council Vice President Hawkins and Councilperson Ellis. Let the record reflect all 9 Council Members were present in Council Chambers. APROVAL OF MINUTES: Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve the Minutes of April 3, 2023 of the Regular Meeting, seconded by Councilperson Croft; motion passed, 9-0. Councilperson Webb made a motion to approve the Minutes of April 6, 2023 of the Special Meeting, seconded by Councilperson Anderson; motion passed, 9-0. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve the Agenda, seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed, 9-0. CLAIMS TO APPROVE: Civil City$1,055,185.70 Mrs. Metcalf advised there were no changes. Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve the Civil City Claims; seconded by Councilperson Croft; motion passed, 9-0. Parks$72,911.30 Mrs. Metcalf advised there were no changes. Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve the Parks Claims; seconded by Councilperson Anderson; motion passed, 9-0. REPORT OF THE CLERK: A reminder the next Council Meeting will be on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 7:00 pm. Everyone should have gotten a letter from River Ridge with their assessed value. The rezone located at 1500 Block of Plank Road was contingent on upon them recording at the Recorder's Office, they did do that and she provided a copy of that to Planning and Zoning. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Heather Metcalf 2023-OR-21 Ordinance of Transfer of Funds Within the Same Department Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve on the Third and Final Reading, seconded by Councilperson Croft; motion passed, 9-0. NEW BUSINESS: 1. April Geltmaker(GCCS General Council) 2023-OR-22 Ordinance Granting Petition to Vacate a Ten Foot Alley in Jeffersonville Ms. Geltmaker advised this went before the Board of Public Works on March 15, 2023 and was approved and notice of this was published on March 20, 2023 in the News and Tribune.This is a 10 foot alley that extends approximately 210 feet east of Meigs Avenue directly between Corden Porter and the new Franklin Square Elementary. Half of the 10 ft. section is actually sidewalk immediately at the entrance of the Corden Porter building, the other 10 ft. runs in the parking lot. Greater Clark is the sole property owner both to the North and South of that 10 ft. alley. Greater Clark has used it for the sidewalk and parking spots for Cordon Porter ever since Corden Porter was been built. They are requesting the City Council vacate this alley so Greater Clark can clean up the property line. GCCS will be demolishing the Corden Porter Building and putting in a parking lot for public use. Council Vice President Hawkins advised he will abstain from voting due to being an employee of GCCS. Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve 2023-OR-22, seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed, 8-0-1 with Council Vice President Hawkins abstaining. 2. Heather Metcalf 2023-OR-23 Ordinance of Additional Appropriation JPD Chief Kavanaugh is requesting a one-time special appropriation on behalf of the JPD in the amount of$460,000.00. The base pay for the JPD is$57,975.65; $49,279.30 is a 15%decrease from that number. If an officer comes in as an experienced officer already certified, their starting base pay is the $57,975.65. If the officer is not experienced,they start at the base pay of$49,279.30 as outlined by JPDs contract. In Indiana Jeffersonville Police Department is ranked 68th in pay when you look at municipal cities and towns. Chief Kavanaugh advised the Administration does not typically come forward to address pay. The collective bargaining agent FOP 100 that represents the officers is responsible for this area and they work diligently. As a Police Administrator he has to look at his officers serving with the challenges they are currently facing. A letter dated 4/12/2023 was submitted to the Jeffersonville City Council on behalf of the JPD and JPD Chief Kavanaugh requested that the letter be added to the Council minutes for April 17, 2023 (see attached). JPD Chief Kavanaugh requested the Council to consider a one- time appropriation of$460,000.00 to be used to supplement the officers pay in 2023 with a bonus. The professional job market is extremely competitive, hardening our pay while recognizing the risk for loosing professionally trained, educated, exceptional, well qualified police officers to agencies with higher competitive pay. This is going to happen here within the state providing the Indiana State Police is expected to be forth coming with the leadership from the Governor's Office. JDP Chief Kavanaugh also requested the Jeffersonville City Council's consideration to open the current contract to address Article 27. Currently JPD officers begin their probationary period at a starting rate of$49,279.30 which is 15% less than a current patrol officers salary, which is$57,975.65. While moving to less than 5 percent of a patrolman salary, they could advertise a probationary police officer salary to start at $55,076.86. This is why they wanted to target that and open up Article 27 to move the 15%to a 5% scale. That seems to be respectively antiquated, that is something that was brought in the contract by previous Council. JPD Chief Kavanaugh feels this is an appropriate time to address this. This request will not need any financial appropriation or funding mechanism with support being reasonable and operationally effective for hiring and recruiting purposes. There is no money the department is going to need to be able to do this ask on the second ask, this is something that was brought before you to make a common Council decision. The administration request that the contract Article 27.1 be opened and the 15%and 10% less amounts be removed from this Article and replaced with the according verbiage: "Newly hired probationary employees shall be paid probationary salary 5% less than a patrol officer's salary for the first year of employment." Chief Kavanaugh advised by addressing this challenge which is the probationary police office pay scale, the Jeffersonville City Council can reasonably and effectively modernize the entry level pay scale demonstrating real change without an appropriation or tax payer money, and start the process tonight. The Administration recognizes this action by Council will initiate a much needed financial pay change to address the widening police officer pay base gap in law enforcement field and the market seen here in the country, such as public safety and police officers which is a challenge for the City of Jeffersonville. The Administration request is supported by the FOP 100 executive leadership. The Jeffersonville Police Department is building a relationship with our community for service, demonstrating professional ethical police practices, actions of police and legitimacy. While numerous communities, municipalities and citizens call for police reform, the ladies and gentlemen of this agency recognize the importance of achieving sustainable outcomes for public safety here in Jeffersonville. In closing, the Police Department Administration asked the City of Jeffersonville Council to consider applying steps and focus financial matters that are sustainable measures that are within our means and capacity, and not put the City in any kind of financial hardship or burden. Therefor the savings can continue to retain our employees of high job performance and capabilities while attracting quality police applicants or recruitment for the upmost professional law enforcement employees to serve the citizens of Jeffersonville. Again, this is not what the Chief of Police has done in the past. They started with a contract in 1999, since then the bargaining agent for the Police Department has been the FOP 100. As Chief of Police right now, he is stepping outside of that norm to come to the City Council to look at the situation that they are in, and the department has been working on as an administration to come up with a solution that is feasible and reasonable. Council President Owen advised that there is an appropriation for the one request, but there is not a Resolution drawn up for the changes for Article 27.1, and he would be reluctant to take action on that request at this time until they have everything in writing. Council President Owen advised in speaking with the Council members they are in favor of reducing the 15% pay gap for new officers and in having a conversation on what the contract says and how to reduce that gap. JPD Chief Kavanaugh advised that the contract has only been reopened one time in the past 29 years and understands the Council's concern, however, the only change requested is for the one time stipend that has the ability for the Council to be able to make that decision to meet the needs of the police department. Councilperson Croft asked if there is any comparison to any other cities. JPD Chief Kavanaugh advised the starting wage for the City of New Albany is $61,105.92. Council President Owen advised he would like to reach out to someone with experience in collective bargaining, such as Barnes and Thornburg in Indianapolis. City Council Attorney Larry Wilder advised one of the reasons they are here addressing this situation with JDP Chief Kavanaugh, in his opinion is when the Council chooses to allow the Mayor and Administration to place them in this position of negotiating a contract with his employees, they are doing something that is exposing themselves to these kinds of decisions and causing them to be the folks that people are pointing fingers at if it doesn't go the way everyone thinks it should go. Next year when the contract comes up, he will again recommend to let the Mayor work the contract out and let him bring the money he wants to spend and how he wants to spend it. If that is where they were today, this would be a decision that would have to be made by the Mayor. They would be getting a legal opinion and they would be the ones that show up down here and say, 'we believe you can do this with your money'. Council President Owen advised it is the verbiage of the contract that needs to be looked at because the money for reducing the step down is already budgeted. Councilperson White stated he does not feel this is a part of the contract, it is a bonus or stipend; it is not part of the wages or hourly pay of the officers. It is not his legal opinion because the Council is not his client. Councilperson White confirmed to make sure he was understanding, that as the Council, they are just appropriating money, the Administration decides to give the bonus or not. It is the action which they need to determine whether or not it is outside the contract. Council Attorney Larry Wilder advised, correct. He also stated that it has been his belief throughout, this is the situation to have that makes him emphasize the Council negotiating the Mayor's contract with the Police because that is his role that he has a statutory obligation to oversee the hiring and firing of employee's. His concern is the Council is suddenly invested into this contract that truly they should not even be involved in. The Chief should be able to go to the Mayor and say, this is what we need. The Council, twice a month are the ones that just say this is how we are going to spend the money, and we all know that if extra money is already appropriated for wages, it is really simple, it's there. Mr. Wilder feels that his clients, the City Council are being put in a place where all the guys at this meeting tonight art going to look at them and think they have some effect over this, in reality, they really don't and shouldn't. The Mayor should make these decisions, then go to the Chief, then the Chief take it to the Council and let them know to spend the money this way. The Council should not be put in this situation. Councilperson Webb asked Mr. Wilder if changing the negative 15 to negative 5, if that would pose a problem for the Council. Mr. Wilder advised he believes the Administration should spend the money to get the legal opinion, not the Council. The Council should request the Mayor provide them with this legal opinion to that says they are ok and they are not breeching the contract. Councilperson White expressed this Ordinance would only be appropriating the money, the money would not be spent until it was approved to be spent. Councilperson Burns stated this could have financial implications and he is not ok with this until the opinion is obtained. JPD Chief Kavanaugh stated he is coming to the Council through the administration and is appointed by the Mayor to do so. He is coming outside of the contract and is not asking for the Council to touch or break or breech any part of the contract. He is asking for a stipend bonus for the officers outside of the existing pay that they are guaranteed through the contract and their wages and benefits. He advised he respects Mr. Wilder's opinion and is still coming to the Council and requesting the Council to make this appropriation like all other appropriations. JPD Chief advised again, he is coming outside of the benefits that were agreed upon by a binding contract that was negotiated with the Common Council. Mr. Wilder advised that he has to argue the point the Chief does not have the authority to negotiate. Mr. Wilder suggested that the Mayor provide his clients with a legal opinion indicating that this request does not violate the contract. Council Vice President Hawkins asked whether the Mayor or the Council decided to get the opinion from legal counsel, what kind of timeline does that fall upon. Council President Owen advised it shouldn't take long. Council Vice President Hawkins stated he is 100%for this appropriation; something needs to be done to keep the officers here and recruit more officers. Councilperson Croft said he believed the officers should be paid all that can be afforded. Councilperson White asked Mrs. Metcalf regarding the Ordinance presented it says Police salaries and if there was a reason it said that. Mrs. Metcalf advised that is the budget line where the money would go. Council President Owen stated it is the GL number that the onetime stipend will come out of. Councilperson White said he agreed with Council Vice President Hawkins, something needs to be done before there is a crisis where the current officers leave and go where they can make more money and have less runs. Council President Owen advised there is key distinction to be made, in the past we have always negotiated those contracts kind of tandem to each other, we really are talking about two separate things under the public safety umbrella. Chief Kavanaugh brought a lot of good information to present; the Police being 68th in the State of Indiana while being one of the fastest growing communities South of Indianapolis, probably state wide is eye opening. JDP Chief Kavanaugh advised that the ask that they are making is not going to change that certified number short term but needs to be a priority in the long term. Council Attorney Larry Wilder advised in his opinion, the Council needs to get legal advice from the Mayor regarding the contract. Council Vice President Hawkins made a motion to approve 2023-OR-23 on the First Reading, seconded by Councilperson Croft; motion passed, 9-0. ATTORNEY COMMENT: Larry Wilder— No Comment Les Merkley—Absent DEPARTMENT HEADS: JFD Chief Grant asked if the Council had an opportunity to discuss the ordering of the Fire apparatus due to the pricing going up in May 2023. JFD Chief Grant advised as of May 1, 2023 the prices will go up. Ordering them now will lock the current price in, however it would still be 3 years before the trucks were ready. The department is making around 3,500 runs a year and that number is climbing. Council Vice President Hawkins made a motion to authorize JFD Chief Grant to move forward with the specking and ordering of a Platform Truck and an Engine Truck, seconded by Councilperson Anderson and Councilperson White; motion passed, 9-0. Heather Metcalf advised that another meeting needs to be scheduled to discuss the Capital Budget. Special Workshop meeting is set for April 25, 2023 at 4:30 pm in Council Chambers. Mr. Wilder will advertise for the meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT: James R McClure, 1006 Hazelwood Ct., Clarksville, IN 47129 All lives matter. Best of luck to anyone that is running in the May Primary elections. COUNCIL COMMENTS: • Councilperson White—No Comment • Councilperson Burns—No comment • Councilperson Paris—Thanked the Street Department for their hard work last Saturday for the trash pickup day that was organized for Oak Park, had about 15 volunteers picking up trash, great success. • Councilperson Anderson—No Comment • Councilperson Croft—New business in the old Gateway Plaza called Check Mate, it's a laser printing company that does screen printing, able to do large amounts, always happy to help out the new businesses, and his name is Donavon Croft. • Councilperson Webb—The Council body and I want to thank the Jeffersonville PD for their hard work, putting their lives at risk, don't think that the Council doesn't want to do anything for you, the Council is here to help JPD, the Council has to make sure it is handled legally. • Council Vice President Hawkins—No comment • Councilperson Ellis—No comment • Council President Owen—Agrees with Councilperson Webb's comment regarding the PD, your efforts are appreciated, your jobs do not get easier. The Council is in favor of the appropriations, just have to make sure it is done legally. Looking long term, he wants to address situations with Public Safety and make sure all of the City Employees are staying competitive and how their compensation is handled. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Burns made the motion to ADJOURN the meeting at 7:52 p.m. APROV D •, ' Matt Owen, Council President ATTEST: Lisa Gill, Clerk • L. Kenneth Kavanaugh Jr. Mike Moore Lt.Col. Michael McVoy Chief of Police Mayor Asst.Chief of Police JEFFERSONVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT April 12, 2023 RE: Council Appropriation Jeffersonville City Councilmembers, Before you tonight are two items for your consideration that address the recruiting and retention of Jeffersonville Police Officers related to their pay. As you are aware, the Jeffersonville Police Department currently has vacancies that we have, at times struggled to fill at the agency standards. The most common theme, we hear from recruits is that the pay is "too low" within the current law enforcement market. Ultimately, candidates may choose another agency within the region to seek law enforcement employment. Additionally, other agencies regionally have substantially increased their compensation through recruiting and retention bonuses directly enhancing police officer pay. Tonight, I ask that you consider a one-time appropriation in the amount of 460,000.00 to be used to supplement the officer pay for 2023 in Jeffersonville. As we know, the professional job market is extremely competitive, targeting our pay while recognizing our risk for losing professional, trained, educated and exceptionally well-qualified police officers to agencies with a higher compensation rate. The second item that I ask you to consider is opening the current contract to address Article 27. Currently, JPD Police Officers begin their probationary period at a starting rate of 49,279.30, which is 15%less than a current patrol officer's salary, which is 57,975.65. While moving to a 5%less than patrolman salary, we can now advertise the probationary employee starting pay of 55,076.87" This � ' 111104 2218 E. 10TH STREET JEFFERSONVILLE,IN 47130 PHONE:8 I'-283-6633 FAX:812-670-3020 l Kenneth Kavanaugh Jr. Mike Moore Lt.Col. Michael McVoy ( hictof Police Mayor Asst.Chief of Police JEFFERSONVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT request will not need any financial appropriation or funding mechanism of support being reasonable and operational effective for hiring and recruiting purposes. The administration requests that contract article 27.1 be opened and the 15%and 10%less amounts be removed from the article and replaced with the according verbiage: "Newly hired probationary employees shall be paid a probationary salary 5 percent Less(-5%) than a Patrolman Salary for their first year of employment." Addressing this challenge within the probationary police officer pay scale, The Jeffersonville City Council can reasonably and effectively modernize the entry level pay scale demonstrating real change without any appropriation. The administration recognizes this action by council will initiate a much-needed financial pay change to address the widening police officer pay-base gap, which is a challenge for the City of Jeffersonville. All Administration request is supported by FOP#100 Executive Leadership. The Jeffersonville Police Department has built the relationship with our communities for service, demonstrating professional and ethical policing practices through the actions of policing legitimacy. While numerous communities, municipalities and citizens call for policing reform, the ladies and gentlemen of this agency recognize the importance of achieving sustainable outcomes for Jeffersonville Public Safety. In closing, the police department administration asks the Jeffersonville City Council to consider applying proactive steps of focused financial measures that are sustainable within our means and capacity. Therefore, this agency can continue to retain our employees of high Job performance capabilities while 2218 E. 10TH STREET JEFFERSONVILLE.IN 47130 PHONE: SI—.283-6633 FAX:812-670-3020 46 I.. Kenneth Kan anaugh Jr. Mike Moore Lt.Col.Michael McVoy Chief f of Pohcc Mayor Asst.Chief of Police JEFFERSONVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT attracting quality police applicants for recruitment delivering the utmost professional law enforcement employees to serve the citizens and residents of Jeffersonville. Respectfully submitted, Chief Kenny Kavanaugh 2218 E. 10TH STREET JEFFERSONVILLE.IN 47130 PHONE:812-283-6633 FAX:812-670-3020