2008-08-25 Regular Council Session Agenda

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MINUTES OF UNIVERSITY CITY COUNCIL July 21, 2008 At the Study Session of the City Council of University City held in the Chambers of the City Hall, on Monday, July 21, 2008, Mayor Adams called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. In addition to Mayor Adams, the following members of the Council were present: Ms. Lynn Ricci Mr. Robert Wagner Mr. Byron Price Mr. Arthur Sharpe, Jr. Excused were Mr. Terry Crow and Mr. Michael Glickert. Also in attendance were City Manager Julie Feier, City Attorney John Mulligan and Director of Human Resources Yolanda Williams. The purpose of this Study Session was to discuss the Civil Service Rules and University City’s Civil Service Board and was led by the Director of Human Resources Yolanda Williams. She first covered the role of the Civil Service Board. Ms. Williams stated that the board mainly functioned as a grievance board for last ten plus years. The administrative functions as outlined in the Charter were not performed. The main administrative function as outlined in the Charter was to report to the Council, at least once a year, its findings, conclusions and recommendations concerning the administration of personnel. Ms. Williams said that this had not happened but will take place from this point forward. Ms. Williams supplied the Council with the Civil Service Rules of the City of University City approved January 15, 1962, which included amendments through March, 2004. Minutes of the Civil Service Board were extremely brief or non existent. The Council requested that when meetings start from here on, minutes need to be provided to the Council and in more detail. It is understood that some minutes will be under the requirement of a closed session. Ms. Williams plans on having a meeting in the next couple of weeks to explain the Board members’ responsibilities, a plan of action and a time line. She will be working on supplying the Council with a detailed personnel comparison list with other Municipalities. The Council also asked for a turn-over comparison in all the City’s departments. Ms. Ricci asked about the minutes for 2004 that were supplied to them stating that there were gaps, sentences missing and the update looked like nothing had changed. Ms. Williams said the original Civil Service rules were generated from the City of St. Louis. Mr. Wagner felt that automatic longevity increases had no merit value to them. The City Manager Ms. Feier explained that the fire and police departments also have raises based on longevity in addition to the Civil Service raises. She also stated that unclassified employees are not bound by the Civil Service rules when asked about any employee starting employment above level C. She stated that most employees are presently at level F and the majority of yearly reviews have good ratings.