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1978-04-24 Regular Meetingof KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH PERSONNEL BO-rRD,h TING I `i r) j April 24th, 1978 Borough Assembly Chambers CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tom Simpler in the Borough Assembly Chambers at 6:08 p.m. II ROLL CALL Present Lorna Arndt Frank Parker, Jr. Tom Simpler Carol Smothers Owen Tarr III MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING - January 31 1978 The minutes'of the first quarter meeting of January 31, 1978, were accepted and approved by all the Board members. Chairman Simpler called the attention of the Board members to new amendments of the Personnel Policy document which reflected Ordinances 78-1-0 and 78-4-0, presented in the form of the current pay schedules and Section 1207, pages 61 and 62. He suggested incorporating these pages into the Personnel Rules and Regulations, retaining the former pages for reference. IV HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REVIEW, IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHAPTER 4 Attention was directed to the Personnel Rules and Regulations document, page 26, Section 418 - Insurance and Medical Benefits. Chairman Simpler read out loud the pertinent section referencing health insurance for the record. The Personnel Board acknowledged receipt of the (1) current Kodiak Island Borough health insurance plan as covered by Western Life Insurance, (2) the State of Alaska Group Health Care and Life Insurance Benefits booklet, (3) a proposal from Equitable Life Assurance Co. and (4) two different proposals from New York Life Insurance. These items were presented before the Personnel Board for their consideration, review and recommendation relating to a comprehensive medical insurance Program for Kodiak Island Borough employees- as per Section 418 of the Personnel Rifles and Regulations. M*. Denslow comtiented that he had tried to familiarize himself with she proposals o€' the different insurance agencies and found them vbry 'difficult to compare. Generally, other than the State health insurance program underwritten by Blue Cross, the proposals did not seem to fit the specifications of the Personnel Policy. Mr. Denslow turned the floor over to Chairman Simpler asking the Personnel Board to assist in this evaluation process necessary to implement this section of the personnel document. Comments from the Board members varied as to individual thoughts _. —... _ —M .... ..- -..:..... /Cry. KIB PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING - April 24th, 1978 Page 2 on the proposals received. Most were astounded by the high premiums of New York Life and Equitable. Mr. Parker, Mr. Tarr and Mrs. Smothers did express preference to Equitable's presentation, but recognized that it may not represent what the employees want or expect. The State plan was thought to be good by the other members of the Board because it offered satisfying deductables with the option of adding individual life insurance coverage above that pro- vided by the standard policy. Unknown factors currently exist with the State insurance because of recent changes and increases in the State benefits provided by Blue Cross, therefore, the Personnel Board recommended taking a conservative approach by waiting to gather more information as to any improvements that might result therefrom. At this time even the costs of the State program are not known for sure. Current costs of premiums within the State program are: Basic Employee Coverage $36.79 Spouse Coverage 41.35 Spouse & Child(ren) 71.45 These costs are anticipated to increase by 15% with the new pro- visions. Mr. Denslow stated that it was obvious that the review and recommenda- tion process for health insurance could not realistically be carried out in one meeting, especially without the new printed version of the State policy. He outlined four factors that should be considered during this review process: 1) What do the employees consider the proper level of insurance to be8 2) What level of insurance are the employees expecting? 3) The need to follow the guidelines of the Personnel Policy documents. 4) The costs thereof to be incorporated into the budget which is anticipated to be presented to the Assembly at their May 20th Work Session in first draft, with fina'1 adoption of the budget before July lst. Recognizing that the employees have not had the opportunity to re- view the health insurance proposals the Personnel Board requested the policies be made available to them for their review and advice. The Personnel Board further requested a May loth, deadline for employee input and/or vote respecting individual wishes on health insurance. The deadline was established to enable a dollar amount to be incorporated into the May 20th, first draft of the budget. The Personnel Board directed Chairman Simpler to arrange for a work session of the Board after receipt of employee input. KIB PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING - April 2kfh,'119.78 i r) Pale 3 V REVIEW OF CHAPTER 4, SECTION 411, OVERTIME - REVIEW FOR POLICY Mr. Denslow presented concerns relating to the overtime section of the Personnel Rules and Regulations. He stated his interpreta- tion of the policy was that all employees except department heads were to be paid for overtime, with the prior approval of the de- partment head or manager. An alternative to overtime pay was compensatory time, as per Section 421. Problems and concerns are being generated when (1) some skilled employees make more with over- time then their department heads, (2) the department head feels restricted because he is not receiving overtime for the same job functions that employees under him receive, such as attending meetings, (3) the accumulated comp time is no longer perceived as of any value because the employee feels he will never get the opportunity to collect it, and (4) being cost effective relative to the budget. The policy wish of the Assembly has been to keep overtime to a minimum and thus also minimize overtime pay. Without much of the current overtime it would be difficult to fulfill some jobs that necessitate attendance at many meetings that may not be included in the written job descriptions. Mr. Denslow stated that is was doubtful that the employee workload would be dropping off and he, therefore, anticipated the need for continuing overtime. Mr. Denslow concluded by requesting the Personnel Board for a policy directive reflecting the proper intent and interpretation of the overtime section of the Personnel Policy document. Chairman Simpler asked for input on overtime concerns from the employees present in the audience. Mr. Lu Mulitalo addressed the Personnel Board stating that he and the Engineer were two positions that were affected by the problem of attending meetings at the request of their department head, thereby accumulating a lot of overtime applied as comp time. Mr. Mulitalo outlined the labor laws on exempt and non-exempt employees stating employees exempt from overtime related to professionals or department heads not eligible for overtime. Non- exempt employees were those doing the more routine jobs and eligible for overtime. Mr. Mulitalo next questioned whether the annual salary had factored into it compensation for attending meetings, stating that if not, the employee was certainly put at a disadvantage to work over 40 hours a week. Mr. Mulitalo commented on his own situation, pointing out that he has about three months of comp time accumulated which would create problems should be decide to take all the time coming to him at one time. When directed a question as to whether he would consider applying his overtime to retirement Mr. Mulitalo responded:"I want my money now". The Personnel Board members unanimously agreed that the original intent behind the overtime section was for employees, except depart- ment heads, to receive compensation for time worked over 40 hours a week, stating that it was the legal responsibility of an employer. Section 411 also states that overtime is to be approved in advance by the department head or the manager, as the case may be, allowing a mechanism for controlling overtime. The Board recognized that very often the problem exists of an employee receiving more money KIB PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING - April 2Wth, 1978 Page 4 due to overtime than their department heads, but that problem goes with the territory when accepting the position of department head. Board member Owen Tarr expressed his feelings that a de- partment was operating inefficiently to need all the staff members at a meeting. He would rather like to see overtime cut down. He stated, "a person, in particular,a department head, needing extra help probably is not as efficient as he should be. It is ineffi- cient to need all staff members at a meeting." In conclusion, the policy directive from the Personnel Board was to leave the written overtime policy section as is, without amendment, allowing the department heads and/or the manager to approve and control overtime. VI AMENDMENT TO ORDINANCE 78-4-0, CHAPTER 12, SECTION 1207 (d) Mr. Denslow advised the Personnel Board that the Assembly was con- sidering an amendment to Ordinance 78-4-0, as reflected in Section 1207 (d) of the Personnel Rules and Regulations, Private Automobile Usage. At the February 2nd, 1978, meeting of the Borough Assembly action was taken to establish,as per (d) of Section 1207, that employees would be reimbursed for any additional cost of automobile insurance not exceeding $150.00 per annum. Upon implementation of the ordinance it was found that the fiscal limit was unrealistic, even though the insurance agent had indicated otherwise. Most personnel were experiencing additional costs of between $200 - $235• The Assembly has advised the staff and administration at their work session of April 22nd, 1978, that they would consider an amendment to alleviate the fiscal restraint. The Assembly gave consideration to many options which included a dollar amount of $250.00 per annum or simply stating reimbursement for additional costs of his/her single automobile insurance. First reading of the amending ordinance would be conducted at the May 4th, Borough Assembly meeting. VII COMMENTS Chairman Simpler stated that there were two things that he would like to do: 1) Requested that Carol Smothers, Vice -Chairman, conduct the third quarter meeting in his absence in July. 2) Set up a tentative agenda for attendance at Borough Assembly meetings. The tentative schedule was set up as follows: Tom Simpler ------- May Meeting Owen Tarr --------- June Meeting Lorna Arndt ------- July Meeting Lorna Arndt ------- August Meeting KIB PERSONNEL BOARD MEETING - April 24th, 1978 Page 5 " Chairman Simpler also reminded all present that the Personnel Board would be holding a work session in the near future to consider a comprehensive health insurance program for the Kodiak Island Borough employees. He again requested that the employees take the opportunity to review the health insurance proposals and make response to the Personnel Board by May loth. The Personnel Board work session would probably be held prior to May 15th,to allow for inclusion into the budget. VIII ADJOURNMENT Hearing no further comments the meeting was adjourned at 7:18 p.m. ATTEST: Personnel Bo d Secretary